What to do with a trillion dollars? Elon Musk's surprising answer

Elon Musk made history in June when he became the first trillionaire in history. Although he held the title for only a short time before SpaceX shares began to fall, wiping out several billions from his net worth, he still possesses an almost unimaginable amount of money. Naturally, the question that occupies many is: what does he intend to do with all this wealth? Does he intend to follow in the footsteps of other well-known billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and donate most of his capital to charity?

Until last week, the answer to this question was not unequivocal, but his response to an economist's appeal revealed a new possibility. Musk has not hidden his negative views on the trend of wealthy individuals donating large sums. Just last month, he criticized MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, who has donated more than 26 billion dollars to various causes, claiming her efforts actually make the world a worse place. In an interview last December on the WTF podcast, Musk explained his reservations: "I agree with the idea of love for humanity, and I think we should try and do things that will benefit the rest of humanity. But it is an extremely difficult task." According to him, the main difficulty with donations is finding a way to ensure they achieve the "reality of kindness" rather than just the impression of it.

At the same time, Musk has declared several times that money will lose its importance in the future due to AI. "You need money to buy goods and services, but if robots and AI provide more goods and services than humans can consume, why would you need money?" he said in an interview with The Economist editor Zanny Minton Beddoes.

Nobel laureate in economics Daron Acemoglu took advantage of these statements and reached out to Musk via the X platform with an interesting proposal: to move from words to deeds and commit to donating his vast wealth to charity by 2036. "There is an opportunity here to let your money do the talking. If money will have no meaning in 2036, then why not commit to donating your current capital, which stands at around a trillion dollars, to charity by 2036? This would establish in the most reliable way your claim regarding the power of AI and technology," the economist added.

Musk's response was surprising: "I really intend to do something like that!" However, he did not elaborate. It is worth noting that an investigation by The New York Times found that the foundation established by Musk has so far donated mainly to organizations aligned with his business interests. For example, two-thirds of his 2024 donations (370 million dollars) were given to a non-profit in Texas that operates schools in areas where his companies and many of his employees reside. Furthermore, one of Musk's followers noted that if his prophecy comes true and money indeed has no meaning in 2036, then donating it would be meaningless.