Anthropic, the American company behind the Claude artificial intelligence system, has announced that it will set aside part of its company for public benefit purposes. It will transfer 5% of its shares to a newly established fund, and this stake may continue to grow as the company's value increases. Based on its latest valuation, the assets are worth tens of billions of dollars. Among other things, this money is intended to help people whose jobs may be threatened by artificial intelligence.
If shareholders approve the plan, the company will immediately transfer 5% of its shares to a new entity called the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. However, the process will not end there. At its discretion, the company's board may add another 2% of shares each time Anthropic's value rises by half above a predetermined baseline.
In practice, this means that the fund does not have a fixed size. If the company were to grow as quickly as it has in recent years, its stake could gradually increase from 5% to 7%, 9%, or more. The company has not yet disclosed how high the baseline is set. Anthropic plans to publish details about how the fund will operate, its governance, and the valuation thresholds that would trigger further increases in the coming months.
According to Anthropic, this is standard practice at technology companies. They often reward their executives with stock packages that grow as the company becomes more valuable. Instead, Anthropic will apply the same principle for the benefit of the public.
5%, but how much money is that?
The fund's value depends on Anthropic's overall valuation. The company's shares are not yet publicly traded, so its valuation is determined by investors in individual funding rounds. In a recent investment round, Anthropic raised additional capital and investors valued it at $965 billion. At this valuation, a 5% stake would be worth roughly $48 billion.
But it could be much more. Anthropic is preparing to go public, which reports suggest could happen as early as November. In that context, there has been talk of a valuation of around $2 trillion. At that price, the fund's stake would be worth approximately $100 billion.
However, one rule applies to all these figures. The fund will not receive cash in its account, but shares. Their actual value will change depending on how well Anthropic performs, and the fund will only receive money from them once it can sell them or otherwise realize their value.
Purpose of the fund
Anthropic is a so-called public benefit corporation. This is a special type of American company that operates for profit as usual but is legally required to consider the general public good alongside profit. According to the company, it carries out most such activities internally. These include artificial intelligence safety research, biomedical research, and discounts on the use of the Claude chatbot for nonprofit organizations and scientific institutions. These projects benefit the public while also providing value to the company itself.
The new fund is intended to be more flexible and operate on a larger scale. Anthropic says it could make large donations to traditional nonprofit organizations or distribute money directly to specific groups of people.
As its main example, the company cites the impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market. According to Anthropic, this technology could create enormous wealth, but it could also disrupt job security for many working people. The company has previously allocated $200 million to studying this issue and finding possible solutions. However, it says artificial intelligence is developing so rapidly that bolder steps will be necessary. The new fund is intended to provide ample scope for precisely such measures.
The company has ruled out one thing in advance. The shares held by the fund may not be used for lobbying or to finance political activities, either in the United States or anywhere abroad.
In the United States, charitable organizations usually take the form of a so-called 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which is tax-exempt but must comply with strict rules. Anthropic has chosen a different path. It will establish the fund as a limited liability company that it will wholly own. According to the company, this will allow it to switch easily between different ways of distributing money.
However, this choice also has a downside. The company has not yet stated how the fund will be taxed or what information it will be required to disclose, something traditional charities are legally required to do. Critics therefore point out that Anthropic itself will ultimately decide how the money is used.
One-fifth of the company for the public good
The new fund builds on pledges previously made by Anthropic's founders and employees. When the company was established, its co-founders pledged to donate 80% of their shares. From the outset, the company has also operated a program in which employees can pledge a portion of their shares to charity, with Anthropic matching their contribution. Roughly half of the company's employees participate in this initiative.
When everything is added together, approximately one-fifth of all Anthropic shares will be set aside for public benefit purposes. And that does not yet include any additional increases the fund would receive if the company reached the specified valuation thresholds.
A good deed, or a clever move ahead of an IPO?
The timing of the announcement has not gone unnoticed. Lise Buyer of Class V Group, an advisory firm specializing in initial public offerings, told CNBC that the move is a necessary preparation for going public and also helps the company's image. According to her, Anthropic is improving its reputation at a time when artificial intelligence is under intense public scrutiny.
Elon Musk, the head of automaker Tesla and space company SpaceX, also weighed in. On his X platform, he wrote that he would recommend distributing the shares directly to the public. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, meanwhile, asked where exactly Anthropic would draw the line on what it considers to be a public benefit.
Before the fund can become fully operational, shareholders must approve the plan. They include major technology companies and investment funds that have invested more than $100 billion in Anthropic over the past several years. Anthropic has promised to provide a detailed report on its progress toward fulfilling its mission in its forthcoming annual public benefit report.
Sources: theguardian.com, apnews.com and anthropic.com
