Anthropic to Give 5% of Its Shares to a Fund for the Public Good
The company plans to give away shares worth $48bn as concerns grow about the effects of technology.
Anthropic says it will put 5% of its shares into a fund meant to help the public. The company makes the Claude chatbot and wants to strengthen its reputation before selling shares on the stock market.
The company says it will give the shares to the fund if its shareholders approve the plan. The shares were worth about $48bn (£36bn) based on its most recent value in May. For every 50% rise in the company's value above a starting point that it has not revealed, Anthropic will add another 2% of its shares to the fund.
Anthropic says the fund could make large donations to charities that already exist or give money directly to particular groups of people.
More people are worried about AI. They are concerned that it could take away people's jobs, harm the environment and change how people behave with each other.
“AI may create a huge amount of economic value, but it could also make life less stable for many workers,” Anthropic said in a blog post.
The company said it had already promised $200m to help deal with this problem. But AI is developing so quickly that bigger steps may be needed, it said. The fund will be able to support different kinds of efforts.
Anthropic has called for AI development to slow down because it is moving so quickly. Other companies, including OpenAI, have later made similar warnings.
Anthropic was valued at $965bn in May, when it raised $65bn from investors. Reports say the company is considering a value of $1.5tn when it sells shares to the public. Its first public stock sale, known as an IPO, is planned for November.
Last week, Anthropic warned that some of its AI models might soon be able to make copies of themselves and spread into devices connected to the internet. These could include smart fridges and robot vacuum cleaners.
Anthropic said that if its models reach this stage, they could run themselves without needing data centres, which are large facilities that house computers.
Elon Musk, who leads Tesla and founded SpaceX, replied to Anthropic's plan for a fund to help the public on social media. He said he also planned to give away some of his shares.
“I recommend giving the shares directly to the public,” he wrote. “This is what I will be doing.”
He later said: “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many.”
SpaceX is listed on the Nasdaq stock market in the US. Its shares rose by 1% in trading before the market opened on Monday. Since the company first sold shares on the stock market in June, its value has fallen by about 9%.
Reports also say that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, held early talks about giving the US government a 5% share in its organisation.
Seven people who had worked at OpenAI founded Anthropic in 2021. The company was set up as a public benefit corporation. This means its directors must consider both the money the company makes and its mission to help the public.