Musk and Anthropic pledge public share giveaways

Elon Musk's SpaceX and artificial intelligence giant Anthropic have pledged big 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 at his rocket company, which owns xAI, to every child in America next year.

The billionaire's announcement came after Anthropic said it would commit 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 (£750bn). SpaceX set the record for biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history in June, raising $85.7bn.

The pledges come at a time when the AI industry is under intense scrutiny over safety concerns and fears about its impact on society and jobs.

Details over how each American child would be handed a share in SpaceX have not been disclosed.

In a post on social media,, external 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."

Source: BBC News World RSS (Open Press / Full Text)