According to a report by The Washington Post on October 22, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Musk's SpaceX are the three parties preparing a wealth donation described as "the largest in modern history," with a total that could approach 300 billion US dollars (about 2.01 trillion RMB).
Anthropic intends to put 5% of the company's shares into a newly established public welfare fund. If its IPO valuation surges to 2 trillion US dollars, this fund could reach 100 billion US dollars; its seven founders have also pledged to donate 80% of their personal wealth. The money may be used to subsidize specific groups affected by AI automation and to fund related research.
OpenAI's charitable foundation reportedly holds about a quarter of the company's shares, worth more than 180 billion US dollars, and has already spent 855 million US dollars on public welfare projects. Musk, for his part, plans to give every child in the US a share of SpaceX next year; based on a rough calculation at recent share prices, the total donation could exceed 11 billion US dollars.
Equity Pledges and Job Reassurance
However, the media has also poured cold water on this: most of these "donations" are unlisted shares or promises for the future, and how much can actually be spent depends heavily on the IPO valuations of Anthropic and OpenAI and on SpaceX's share price. If valuations shrink, the magnitude of the pledges will shrink accordingly—there is still a distance between paper figures and money in hand.
The newspaper offers another layer of interpretation: these philanthropic moves, while boosting technology commercialization, more importantly respond to the potential upheaval AI may cause in employment, income distribution, and social stability, aiming to dilute public anxiety about "AI taking jobs." At a time when the large model race is becoming ever more money-burning, this high-profile act of charity is also seen as an investment in public trust.