Anthropic announces big plan to help workers disrupted by AI
The same company that warned AI could take away half of all entry-level office jobs is setting aside a huge amount of money to help the people who lose their jobs.
In May 2025, Dario Amodei warned that artificial intelligence (AI) could eliminate half of all entry-level office jobs within five years, according to Yahoo News. He said this because he hoped governments and large AI companies would prepare to protect people from this outcome.
On October 18, 2026, Anthropic announced that it was creating the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. If shareholders approve it, the new organization will receive 5% of the company's shares. The money will help workers whose jobs are affected by AI, according to CNBC.
This is one of the first serious efforts by an AI company to support people whose jobs are affected by the technology.
Inside Anthropic’s promise to help workers who lose their jobs
Anthropic makes Claude AI. It earns money by selling businesses and everyday users access to this AI system.
All seven of Anthropic’s co-founders have also promised to give away 80% of their personal shares, according to Fortune. Add that to the 5% of the company set aside for the fund and a program that matches employee donations, and about 20% of Anthropic's total shares are now set aside for public benefit.
If Anthropic reaches a value of $2 trillion when it sells shares to the public through an IPO, the fund's initial 5% stake could be worth as much as $100 billion when trading begins, according to Forbes. That would be one of the biggest corporate promises to support a social cause ever announced. Investors have recently lowered their estimates of the company's value to about $1.5 trillion. Even at that value, the stake would be worth about $75 billion.
Why Anthropic chose an LLC instead of a charity
Anthropic created the fund as a limited liability company (LLC) that it fully owns, rather than as a traditional nonprofit charity. This legal structure gives the company more freedom to try things that many charities cannot do.
For example, the fund can give money directly to groups of people who are most affected by AI's impact on jobs. It can also pay for training programs that teach people new skills and support organizations that help workers move into new careers.
“We should do everything we can to prevent it,” Amodei said in June about large-scale job losses caused by AI. He called workers being permanently pushed out of their jobs “undesirable and dangerous,” according to Business Today.
Anthropic has also forbidden the fund from spending money on lobbying or political donations. The fund is also designed to grow as the company becomes more valuable. At the board's discretion, each time Anthropic's value increases by 50%, the fund will receive another 2% of the company's shares.
What this means if AI could take your job
Anthropic has not yet explained who will qualify for help or when people might receive direct payments. The company says it will share more details in the next few months.
No one knows exactly when people will start receiving real help from this fund. For now, if you work in customer service, basic coding, entry-level finance, or routine office administration, it makes sense to improve your skills.
The catch behind the promise of a big payout
Owning shares does not provide money to pay bills until those shares are sold. If investment in AI or the wider stock market slows after Anthropic's IPO, the amount of money the fund can eventually give to people could fall.
I also think that because Anthropic has not yet explained who qualifies for help or when the plan will begin, the fund may be more of a future promise than something that will help people soon.