Anthropic commits 5 pc of its stock to new 'public benefit' fund

Anthropic said it is committing 5 per cent of its shares to a new "public benefit" fund, with the fund's worth potentially increasing as its shares grow in value.

The shares will go to the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, a new entity within the company, it said on Sunday.

The fund "will have increased flexibility and scale, enabling us to pursue our mission in new ways: for example, we might explore large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations," Anthropic said in a blog post. It gave labour market impacts as an example, saying that while it has already committed USD 200 million to study the effects of artificial intelligence, "given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed".


CEO Dario Amodei and the company's five other co-founders established Anthropic as a public benefit corporation, a designation that for-profit companies select to balance financial goals and social impact.

They have also pledged that they will donate 80 per cent of their wealth. An equity donation match programme, in which about half of the company's employees participate, lets workers pledge equity that Anthropic matches.

When combined with Sunday's announcement, Anthropic said roughly 20 per cent of its shares will be dedicated to the "public good", plus any additional percentage that could be added if the company's valuation reaches specific milestones.

Anthropic is planning a massive initial public offering as soon as November.