Musk and Anthropic offer share giveaways as AI scrutiny mounts

Elon Musk's SpaceX and the artificial intelligence giant Anthropic have pledged substantial financial giveaways as Big Tech firms come under pressure over the potential impact of AI on humanity.

Musk said on Monday that he would give one of his shares in the rocket company, which owns xAI, to every child in America next year. His announcement followed Anthropic's commitment to devote 5% of its shares to a fund that will make donations for the "public good".

Anthropic is laying the ground for a potential blockbuster stock market listing that could value the firm at more than $1tn. SpaceX set the record for the biggest initial public offering in history in June, raising $85.7bn. The pledges come as the AI industry faces intense scrutiny over safety concerns and fears about its impact on society and jobs. Details of how each American child would be handed a SpaceX share have not been disclosed.

In a post on social media, Musk said: "Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many." It came after he responded to Anthropic's public fund pledge with: "I recommend giving the shares directly to the public. This is what I will be doing."

Anthropic said none of the shares held in its Public Benefit Fund would be used for lobbying or political donations in the US or overseas. The Claude developer said on Sunday that the fund could also receive another 2% of the firm's shares at its board's discretion. Last week, Anthropic told prospective investors that its revenue surged by 45% to $16.8bn in the three months to the end of September. In common with other AI firms, it is seeking to position itself as able to generate huge profits despite spending billions on developing the technology and building infrastructure to power its models.

Companies around the world, primarily technology firms, have cut thousands of jobs after investing in AI, with many pointing to higher efficiencies from its adoption. Research by the International Monetary Fund published in 2024 suggested that almost 40% of jobs around the world will be affected by AI, with that figure rising as high as 60% in advanced economies.

In September, a researcher who quit Anthropic said people working on the technology were "genuinely frightened" about the speed of its advancements and what it could mean for humanity. "I believe that if we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future," he said. Jacob Coxon was speaking to the BBC after his resignation post on the dangers of AI went viral amid growing safety concerns about the industry. The 27-year-old's former boss, Anthropic head Dario Amodei, had previously called for AI development to slow down, though some have questioned the motivations behind this.

The bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Musk, have both said they agree with Amodei's proposal for industry-wide deceleration and regulation, as well as independent monitoring of AI model development. Earlier this month, Donald Trump and the heads of major AI firms signed a "morally binding" document making them responsible for ensuring the safety of their own technology. The US president has repeatedly rejected the idea of laws to control development of the technology despite a debate about the potential risks of AI and what it means for humanity. Since then, he has named the director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, as the head of a new taskforce on AI which, he said, will co-ordinate government engagement with consumers, companies and "religious organizations".