Elon Musk says that next year he will give one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America
Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many.
Context
The pledge follows Musk's call for AI companies to give shares directly to the public, though it is a personal gift rather than an AI program.
This is a first hand pledge from Musk, and it is only loosely about AI: SpaceX owns xAI, and the post came after he responded to Anthropic's new Public Benefit Fund. Musk has not said how the shares would be delivered, who would qualify or when.
- BBC: Musk and Anthropic pledge public share giveaways
- The Verge: Elon Musk says he'll give every American child a SpaceX share
- Chubby on X: Universal high income is coming
- Chubby on X: the beginning of universal high income
- Elon Musk on X: universal high income
- Advance Intelligence: Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund
Deep dive
Early on October 19, Elon Musk posted: Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many. The Verge reported that he pinned the post, which passed 8 million views.
The pledge follows Anthropic's announcement on October 18 that it will commit 5% of its shares to a Public Benefit Fund. Musk replied to Anthropic: I recommend giving the shares directly to the public, and later added: This is what I will be doing. The BBC noted that SpaceX, which owns xAI, set the record for the largest initial public offering in June, and that details of how each child would receive a share have not been disclosed.
The Verge wrote that keeping the pledge would mean giving away more than $10 billion worth of shares, and pointed to the vague deadline of next year and Musk's record of missed promises.
Other accounts framed the pledge as the start of a payout from AI wealth. The account vittorio called it the beginning of universal basic income, and Musk replied with a correction: universal high income, a phrase he has used before. Chubby, a tech commentator, wrote that universal high income is coming, while noting that Anthropic's fund is not a commitment to universal basic income.
What to expect next
Watch for details on how the shares would be distributed, including who counts as a kid in America, how accounts would be held for minors and how taxes would be handled.
Also watch whether other AI founders or companies follow with similar share pledges, and how Anthropic's fund, which needs stockholder approval, decides to give. Whether Musk delivers next year, as promised, will be the real test.