Anthropic pledges 5% of shares to public benefit fund

Anthropic says it will set aside 5% of its shares for a new fund that could support nonprofits, make direct payments to groups of people and address job disruption caused by artificial intelligence. The pledge comes as the company behind the Claude AI assistant prepares for a potential stock market listing and faces scrutiny over the technology’s risks.

The commitment takes effect subject to stockholder approval, Anthropic said in an announcement Sunday. The company said its board could add another 2% of shares at its discretion for every 50% increase in Anthropic’s value, according to Al Jazeera.

“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,” the company said. It contrasted the plan with escalating equity awards for technology executives: “We are instead directing that equity to the public benefit.”

Anthropic said the fund could give money to traditional nonprofits or make “direct distributions to specific populations”. It identified disruption to the labour market as one possible focus. The company has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing that issue, it said, but “given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed”.

Shares held by the fund will not be used for lobbying or political donations in the United States or abroad, Anthropic said.

The pledge arrives ahead of a potential initial public offering. The BBC reported that a listing could value Anthropic at more than $1 trillion. Al Jazeera said analysts forecast a valuation exceeding $2 trillion and that the company was expected to list in the United States before the end of 2026. Anthropic told prospective investors last week that revenue rose 45% to $16.8 billion in the three months to the end of September, according to the BBC.

The effects of AI on work remain a central concern. Research published by the International Monetary Fund in 2024 suggested that almost 40% of jobs worldwide could be affected by AI, rising to as much as 60% in advanced economies, the BBC reported. Al Jazeera cited a McKinsey estimate that up to 11 million American workers may need to change careers over the next decade because of AI-driven automation.

Safety concerns extend beyond employment. The BBC reported that Anthropic warned in its IPO filing that AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity”. In September, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon told the BBC that people working on AI were “genuinely frightened” by the speed of its development. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has previously called for AI development to slow, the BBC reported.

Elon Musk responded to the fund announcement by suggesting Anthropic give the shares directly to the public. “This is what I will be doing,” he wrote on social media.