Anthropic Pledges 5% of Its Shares to a Fund That Could Help Workers
The company behind Claude could give money to people affected by AI, but it is not yet clear who would qualify.
Anthropic, the company that makes Claude, has promised to put some of its shares into a new Public Benefit Fund. The fund will look at problems caused by AI and try to address them. These include how AI affects jobs and how to keep AI safe.
According to the company's blog post, 5% of the AI company's shares will go to the fund if the shareholders approve the plan. The board may also choose to add another 2% of the shares whenever the company's value grows by 50% above a set starting value.
More people are worried about how AI might change the economy and society. Anthropic says the fund will give it more freedom to work on its goals, beyond the work it already does within the company.
In its blog post, the company wrote, "The Anthropic Public Benefit Fund will have increased flexibility and scale, enabling us to pursue our mission in new ways." This means the fund should give Anthropic more ways to support its mission.
The fund could give large donations to nonprofit groups or send money straight to certain groups of people. This would give the company more ways to respond to AI's effects on society.
How Could This Benefit Workers?
One problem Anthropic has pointed out is how AI might change people's jobs. The company says AI could create a lot of economic value, but it could also make work and life less stable for many workers.
Anthropic has already promised $200 million to study this problem and work on possible solutions. The new fund could give the company more room to try other approaches, including giving money to people who are affected by AI. But Anthropic has not yet said exactly what these plans would involve.
The announcement comes as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly warned about the risks of AI as it advances quickly. One of his concerns is that AI could affect people's ability to find or keep jobs.
What Are People Saying About It?
The announcement has also made some people on X doubtful. Some users have questioned why Anthropic is setting up the fund and whether the company's wider approach to AI safety is right.
One user wrote on X, "What on earth does Anthropic have internally to be doing this"