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BY Rob Walker

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Generosity is in the air, or so it would seem. The Trump administration recently mailed a round of $500 checks to almost a million users of Healthcare.gov. The AI rivals OpenAI and Anthropic have promised to share their (eventual) wealth with the public beyond investors, and Anthropic this week got a bit more specific, proposing a Public Benefit Fund pegged at 5% of the company’s overall value. And never to be outdone, Elon Musk promptly pledged to give “every kid in America” a share in SpaceX.

What explains the abrupt rise of these largesse Olympics among some of our most powerful institutions? Presumably there’s actual generosity involved. But let’s face it: Each of these schemes doubles as reputational marketing.

Naturally, the details vary. The government checks are the most straightforward. They are accompanied by a letter ostensibly from President Trump, attacking Democrats and promising to lower healthcare costs.…