Anthropic to commit 5% of shares to new public benefit fund

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind Claude, will commit 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund, creating a vehicle that the company says will allow it to put more of its growing value towards addressing the broader impact of AI.

The commitment is subject to stockholder approval. Anthropic said the stake could also increase as its valuation rises in a blog post. Under the proposed structure, an additional 2% of Anthropic’s shares could be added to the fund at the board’s discretion for every 50% increase in the company’s value above a set baseline.

Anthropic said the new fund is intended to give it more flexibility in how it directs resources towards public-interest causes. “The Anthropic Public Benefit Fund will have increased flexibility and scale, enabling us to pursue our mission in new ways,” the company said.

That could include “large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations”, Anthropic said.

Anthropic says AI could create economic value but disrupt workers

One of the areas the company specifically identified is the impact of AI on employment and the labour market. "AI may generate enormous economic value, but it could also cause instability for many workers,” Anthropic said.

The company has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing the economic effects of AI through its Economic Futures Research Fund. However, Anthropic said the pace of AI development could require approaches beyond research and analysis. “Given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed,” the company said. “The Fund will have the versatility to pursue them.”

Anthropic said the new fund will be established as a wholly owned limited liability company (LLC), rather than a 501(c)(3) charity. The company said this structure would provide greater flexibility in how the money is deployed.

At the same time, Anthropic said the equity held by the fund will not be used for lobbying or political giving. “None of the Anthropic equity held by the LLC will be used for lobbying or political giving, in the US or abroad,” the company said.

The structure also means that the amount dedicated to public-benefit purposes could increase as Anthropic becomes more valuable. “Because of the way the Fund is structured, the more Anthropic grows, the larger the share of the company that can be dedicated expressly to the public good,” Anthropic said.

The company compared the arrangement with the way technology companies provide executives with increasing equity awards as their businesses grow. “It is common practice for tech companies to offer escalating compensation awards to their executives. We are instead directing that equity to the public benefit,” Anthropic said.

The new fund builds on commitments that Anthropic’s founders and employees have already made. When the company was founded, its co-founders pledged to donate 80% of their equity holdings. Anthropic also operates an equity donation matching programme under which employees can pledge their equity and the company matches those contributions. Around half of Anthropic’s employees participate in the programme, according to the company.

With those commitments combined with the new fund, Anthropic said roughly 20% of its shares will be dedicated to the public good. That figure could rise further if the company reaches the valuation milestones tied to the new fund.

Anthropic said it will provide more information about the fund’s governance and structure in the coming months, including the valuation milestones that could trigger additional equity commitments. It also plans to publish a public-benefit report detailing its progress against its broader mission.

The move comes as Anthropic continues to grow rapidly and prepares for a potential blockbuster public listing. The company is structured as a public benefit corporation, meaning it is designed to pursue its broader mission alongside commercial objectives.

Anthropic said much of its existing public-benefit work remains inside the company, including research into AI safety and interpretability, applied biomedical research, and discounts on Claude for nonprofits and scientific institutions. The new fund is intended to expand what it can do beyond those activities.