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Forbes America’s 10 Youngest Billionaires: 7 Rode the AI Wave to the List, 4 from Anthropic

Business Insider reports that Forbes has published its annual ranking of the 400 richest Americans, with the entry threshold hitting a record $4.4 billion. The number of billionaires under 40 jumped from four to ten, with seven attributing their fortunes to the AI surge, primarily as founders.
Anthropic, a five-year-old AI firm valued at $1.5 trillion on secondary markets, accounts for four of these seven AI billionaires. All seven co-founders have committed to donating 80% of their wealth to charity this year. The other three hail from Surge AI, OpenAI, and Cognition.
Top 10: From Walmart Heir to AI Pioneer
Lucas Walton, 39, tops the list with $44.4 billion. As Walmart founder Sam Walton’s grandson, he is the sole heir on the list, managing impact investments through Builders Vision.
Anthropic’s Tom Brown and Daniela Amodei, both 39, each hold $15.5 billion. Brown, the Chief Computing Officer, helped launch GPT-3, while Amodei, President and Board Chair, co-founded Anthropic with her brother Dario after leaving OpenAI in 2021.
Jack Clark, 37, and Sam McCandlish, 36, also net $15.5 billion, overseeing Anthropic’s internal research and model architecture. OpenAI’s co-founder and president, Greg Brockman, 37, leads with $25.5 billion, making him the wealthiest AI entrepreneur on the list. Edwin Chen, 38, founded Surge AI, generating over $1 billion annually, with a net worth of $18 billion. Steven Hao, 30, the youngest U.S. billionaire, co-founded Cognition in 2023 after departing Scale AI; the company is valued at $48 billion, with Hao’s net worth at $5.8 billion.
Among non-AI founders, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, 39, holds $7.1 billion. Palmer Luckey, 33, founded Oculus, sold it to Meta, and co-founded defense tech firm Anduril, with a net worth of $5.9 billion.
Only two young billionaires reside outside California: Walton in Illinois and Chen in New York.
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Business Insider reports that Forbes has published its annual ranking of the 400 richest Americans, with the entry threshold hitting a record $4.4 billion. The number of billionaires under 40 jumped from four to ten, with seven attributing their fortunes to the AI surge, primarily as founders.
Anthropic, a five-year-old AI firm valued at $1.5 trillion on secondary markets, accounts for four of these seven AI billionaires. All seven co-founders have committed to donating 80% of their wealth to charity this year. The other three hail from Surge AI, OpenAI, and Cognition.
Top 10: From Walmart Heir to AI Pioneer
Lucas Walton, 39, tops the list with $44.4 billion. As Walmart founder Sam Walton’s grandson, he is the sole heir on the list, managing impact investments through Builders Vision.
Anthropic’s Tom Brown and Daniela Amodei, both 39, each hold $15.5 billion. Brown, the Chief Computing Officer, helped launch GPT-3, while Amodei, President and Board Chair, co-founded Anthropic with her brother Dario after leaving OpenAI in 2021.
Jack Clark, 37, and Sam McCandlish, 36, also net $15.5 billion, overseeing Anthropic’s internal research and model architecture. OpenAI’s co-founder and president, Greg Brockman, 37, leads with $25.5 billion, making him the wealthiest AI entrepreneur on the list. Edwin Chen, 38, founded Surge AI, generating over $1 billion annually, with a net worth of $18 billion. Steven Hao, 30, the youngest U.S. billionaire, co-founded Cognition in 2023 after departing Scale AI; the company is valued at $48 billion, with Hao’s net worth at $5.8 billion.
Among non-AI founders, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, 39, holds $7.1 billion. Palmer Luckey, 33, founded Oculus, sold it to Meta, and co-founded defense tech firm Anduril, with a net worth of $5.9 billion.
Only two young billionaires reside outside California: Walton in Illinois and Chen in New York.
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