Anthropic Commits 5% Of Shares To New Public Benefit Fund With Potential For Future Increases

Anthropic is creating the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. This new organization will own an increasing share of the AI company and support projects that match its mission to benefit the public.

If shareholders approve the plan, Anthropic will initially give the Fund 5% of its shares. The plan also allows the company's board to add another 2% of its shares each time Anthropic's value rises by 50% above a set starting value.

The Fund will be set up as a limited liability company (LLC) fully owned by Anthropic, rather than as a traditional nonprofit registered under section 501(c)(3) of the US tax code. Anthropic said this setup will give the Fund more freedom in how it uses its money. For example, it could make large donations to existing nonprofits or give money directly to particular groups of people.

The company said the shares held by the Fund will not be used to support lobbying or political donations, either in the United States or in other countries.

Anthropic sees the Fund as an extension of the work it already does to benefit the public. This work includes research into AI safety and how AI systems work, medical research using AI, and lower-cost access to Claude for nonprofits and scientific organizations. The new Fund is meant to support projects that may need a different setup or much more money.

One area Anthropic pointed to is how AI could affect jobs and workers. The company has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing the economic problems that AI may cause. However, it said more ways to respond may be needed as the technology develops.

This new commitment adds to promises by Anthropic's founders and employees to give some of their company shares to benefit the public. When the company was founded, its co-founders promised to donate 80% of the shares they personally owned. Anthropic also has a program that matches employees' donations of company shares, and about half of its employees take part.

Anthropic said that, together with the new Fund, these commitments mean about 20% of its shares are now set aside for the public good. This figure does not include any extra shares that could be added if the company reaches future value targets.

Anthropic plans to share more details about how the Fund will be managed, how it is set up, and the company value targets that could lead to more shares being added in the coming months. The company also said it will publish a public benefit report soon, explaining its progress toward its wider mission.

KEY QUOTES:

“The Anthropic Public Benefit Fund will have more freedom and resources to help us pursue our mission in new ways. For example, we might explore making large donations to traditional nonprofits or giving money directly to specific groups of people.”

“Because of how the Fund is set up, the more Anthropic grows, the larger the share of the company that can be set aside specifically for the public good. Tech companies commonly give their executives increasingly large rewards in company shares. Instead, we are directing those shares toward benefiting the public.”

Anthropic statement