Elon Musk says he’s going to boost childcare benefits at his companies as part of his mission to tackle the “underpopulation crisis” that he adamantly claims is “the biggest danger civilization faces by far.” The world’s richest man currently runs Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company — he was also about to helm Twitter until he attempted to back out of the $44 billion buyout, much to the discontent of the company’s board.

“Kids are worth it if at all possible,” Musk writes. “I’m planning to increase childcare benefits at my companies significantly. Hopefully, other companies do the same.” Musk’s statement comes in response to a tweet asking about the financial implications of having several kids, a thread that Nick Cannon, who also has a growing family, even chimed in on. Musk adds that the Musk Foundation will “donate directly to families” as well, but it’s unclear what exactly this means. Musk says he’ll share more details about these plans next month.

As pointed out by Insider, Tesla currently provides up to 16 weeks of paid family leave, as well as covers up to $40,000 for fertility services. Job listings for Neuralink indicate that it offers parental leave, but it’s unclear what kind of family-related benefits SpaceX and The Boring Company have to offer.

Musk has brought up a collapsing birth rate several times in the recent past, and rehashed the topic once again after a report from Insider revealed that Musk had twins with one of his top Neuralink executives, Shivon Zilis, last year. While Musk didn’t directly confirm the report, he tweeted: “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis,” shortly after the claims surfaced. Musk, who currently has nine known children, has made big promises in response to tweets in the past — some that he’s followed through on, and some… not so much.

Through Twitter, he committed to funding Flint, Michigan to help residents access clean water — which the city recently used to unveil clean drinking fountains in schools — and also responded to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plea to send over Starlink satellites at the start of Russia’s invasion. We’ll have to see if Musk follows through on his promise to increase childcare benefits, or if it’s just a whimsical statement that his promise to transform Twitter is starting to seem like.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/9/23201809/elon-musk-increase-childcare-benefits-companies-spacex-tesla-neuralink-boring-company