As SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic plan blockbuster launches, will it make AI giants more accountable?
As SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic plan blockbuster launches, will it make AI giants more accountable?
Publish Date: 2026-06-09 16:08:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
A huge change is coming to the world’s booming artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
Starting with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, with OpenAI and Anthropic preparing to follow, all three private companies are set to sell shares of their stock to the general public for the first time. These are what’s known as initial public offerings (IPOs).
SpaceX – the first of them to launch this Friday, June 12 – expects to raise $US75 billion from selling just 4% of the company’s shares.
Musk is already the world’s richest man, worth around US$800 billion. He owns around 42% of SpaceX now, plus options to buy more shares at a fraction of the US$135 a share price ordinary investors are being asked to pay. Given his existing wealth, after this Friday’s listing Musk looks likely to become the world’s first trillionaire.
Together, these three companies are valued at almost $US4 trillion and are expected to raise a record-breaking $US200 billion, despite well-founded concerns that big AI stocks are now hugely overvalued.
While most of the news coverage has focused on the money involved, there’s actually another side to these sales that could be a big deal in the longer run.
At a time when everyone from the Pope to people from all walks of life worldwide are concerned about AI’s growing role in our lives, these stock exchange listings have the potential to finally bring some extra transparency to the inner workings of the AI giants.
Why SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic matter to you
Once these companies list, hundreds of millions of investors around the world will be exposed to these companies. That could be directly, if you buy these stocks, or else through index funds, which hold shares on behalf of investors – including big retirement and superannuation funds.
Even for those who don’t consider themselves investors, these three share offerings could easily affect your savings too.
Here’s what we know about these IPOs so far.
SpaceX’s most…
