KATHMANDU- Billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of companies including SpaceX, Tesla and X, has announced plans to give every child in the United States one share in SpaceX next year.
Musk made the announcement in a post on X on Monday.
“Next year I will give every child in America one share of SpaceX,” he wrote, adding that it would be “the first of many such actions.”
According to CNN, the announcement comes amid growing debate over the impact of technology companies on society.
On Sunday, artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced that it would allocate at least 5% of its equity to a new public benefit fund. Based on the company’s latest valuation, the stake would be worth $48 billion. Anthropic said the fund would distribute money to support social causes.
The United States has approximately 73 million children under the age of 18. Based on the estimated value of Musk’s proposed plan, giving each child one share would amount to about $10.66 billion.
Although Musk announced the plan, he has not explained how the shares would be distributed. According to The Washington Post, the administration of US President Donald Trump has also launched a programme called “Trump Accounts” to support savings and investment for children. Musk has hinted that he could use the programme to distribute SpaceX shares.
The announcements by Musk and Anthropic come as AI companies face mounting scrutiny over the safety of their products.
Anthropic recently warned that AI technology could pose a threat to human existence.
Concerns are also growing about the possibility of AI causing widespread job losses and the social and environmental impact of building the massive data centres required to support the industry.
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