Elon Musk and Anthropic unveiled gestures aimed at sharing AI’s financial upside with the public, tapping into rising anxiety over automation’s impact on jobs and inequality. Musk said he plans to give one SpaceX share—worth about $150—to every U.S. child next year, a move that could total roughly $10.8 billion based on about 72 million minors. Anthropic, meanwhile, said it will allocate 5% of its equity to a public benefit fund to help address labor-market disruptions stemming from AI, as it prepares for a potential IPO that analysts say could value the company above $1 trillion.
The proposals arrive as polls show Americans are more worried than excited about AI’s rapid advance, and as policymakers explore programs to bolster household wealth. President Donald Trump praised Musk’s plan, linking it to government-seeded child accounts, while critics noted Musk’s history of ambitious but unrealized pledges, including his 2018 “funding secured” claim about taking Tesla private. With evidence of AI’s workplace effects still mixed, the announcements highlight how leading tech figures are trying to blunt concerns about a technology expected to boost productivity while potentially eroding returns to human labor.
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— Sam Altman: Moore’s Law for Everything (AI-driven prosperity and redistribution)
