AI companies say they want to give billions away. Will they actually do it?

Some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names are digging deep into their pockets. Elon Musk has promised to give every child in America a share in SpaceX next year. That would amount to roughly 72 million shares worth $10.5 billion at recent prices. It’s a generous offer, although each child would receive about $146, a tiny fraction of Musk’s fortune, which has recently topped $1 trillion. And Musk isn’t alone. Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, recently unveiled plans to set aside 5% of its shares for public benefit. Based on its most recent funding valuation, that stake would be worth roughly $48 billion. Rival OpenAI has also pledged billions toward charitable causes. The sums are eye-watering. But turning those promises into money that actually reaches the public is more complicated. “The traditional approach is one that requires a substantial financial commitment upfront,” says Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at Ohio State University, “not just a stated intention to put money aside.” How the pledges would work Anthropic’s proposal still requires shareholder approval. If approved, it would transfer shares into a company-controlled limited liability company (LLC), whi…

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