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Anthropic Gives 5% of Itself to the Public. Musk Answers by Giving Away SpaceX Shares
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Anthropic said Sunday it would commit 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund, pending stockholder approval. The Claude developer said the fund could make large nonprofit donations or direct distributions. Anthropic is preparing a possible November IPO at a reported $2 trillion valuation.
The fund is a wholly owned LLC, not a nonprofit, and cannot use equity for lobbying or political donations. Its board can add another 2% of shares each time Anthropic’s value rises 50% above an undisclosed baseline. Co-founder pledges and employee matching mean roughly 20% of stock goes to public causes.
Elon Musk responded Monday by promising one SpaceX share to every U.S. child next year. With roughly 72 million children and SpaceX shares near $147, the pledge is worth about $10.5 billion. That is just over 1% of the 6.42 billion shares Musk held as of June 30, SEC filings show.
The exchange followed Anthropic’s draft AI safety bill, which would let government block models risking more than 50 deaths or over $1 billion in damage. An AP-NORC poll found 64% of U.S. adults say AI is developing too fast, while 8% say too slow. Anthropic has committed $200 million to studying the fund.
At the reported valuation, 5% of Anthropic would be worth about $100 billion on paper, not cash. The company has not disclosed how the fund will be taxed or what it will publicly report. Musk’s countermove appears to use expanded Treasury rules for donating shares to tax-advantaged Trump Accounts for children.
Both moves aim to shape public perception as AI leaders face scrutiny over safety and concentrated wealth. Anthropic’s fund still needs stockholder approval, and its IPO timing remains uncertain. Musk wrote that his pledge would be “the first of many,” leaving unclear how shares would be distributed.
