Anthropic commits 5% of shares to a 'public benefit fund'

Anthropic announced today that it is creating a "public benefit fund" that will give the company "increased flexibility and scale" to support projects for societal good.

Anthropic said it will commit 5% of its shares to the fund — structured as a wholly owned entity within the company — with the option to contribute an additional 2% for every 50% increase in Anthropic's value. It also offered some broad ideas for how the money might actually be used, such as "large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations."

There is also the impact AI might have on the job market, which Anthropic has already committed $200 million to study. But the company said, "Given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed. The Fund will have the versatility to pursue them."

Anthropic's announcement comes as the AI industry faces increasingly negative public sentiment, which CEO Dario Amodei has described as "fundamentally a crisis of trust."

For those wondering who will actually decide which public benefits are worth funding, Anthropic said it will share more information about structure and governance in the coming months.