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Anthropic said it would dedicate 5% of its shares to a new “public benefit fund” in an attempt to address public backlash against AI ahead of its planned blockbuster IPO.
The $965 billion startup said Sunday it would float the shares, worth about $48 billion at its latest valuation, subject to shareholder approval. It plans to add an additional 2 percent of shares for every 50 percent increase in company value above an undisclosed benchmark.
Anthropic said the Public Benefit Fund, a wholly-owned limited liability company, would strengthen its work in areas such as AI safety and biomedical research.
It would be able to pursue “bolder approaches” to issues such as job losses due to AI and “could explore large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations,” the company said.
The announcement follows growing public outcry over AI, ranging from the threat to jobs and increased data center construction to the risk of the technology spiraling catastrophically out of control.
Anthropic has warned investors that AI poses an “existential risk to humanity.” In securities filings attached to its planned IPO this year, expected this year at a valuation of around $2 trillion, the company highlighted the potential for manipulation, blackmail and other unpredictable behavior of advanced models.
The idea of structures aimed at giving the public a greater financial share of the benefits of AI has long been circulating in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk responded to Anthropic’s announcement on Sunday by posting on X: “I recommend giving the shares directly to the public.”
Over the summer, rival OpenAI discussed proposals to put about 5% of the company in public hands as it faced greater scrutiny from the Trump administration and government controls over the release of its most advanced models. Just over a quarter of OpenAI is owned by the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation.
Anthropic has positioned itself as a force for good, but has faced public backlash as it has become one of the leading AI labs in the United States. “The more Anthropic grows, the greater the portion of the business that can be devoted expressly to the public good,” the company said in a statement.
Founded in 2021 by seven former OpenAI staff members, including siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who were concerned about the company’s security practices and business direction, Anthropic was created as a public benefit corporation. Company leaders must balance financial returns for shareholders with its public-interest mission.
Anthropic said that, following Sunday’s announcement, about 20 percent of its actions would be dedicated to public causes. Its founders have pledged to donate 80 percent of their stakes. The company has an equity donation program that allows employees to donate equity to charity.
Anthropic said its Public Benefit Fund would operate as a wholly-owned limited liability company rather than a tax-exempt charity. More details on its “structure and governance” as well as valuation steps that would unlock more equity commitments would be announced in the coming months, it added.
The company also introduced an AI safety and security bill to US lawmakers, including allowing courts to block the release of models with “dangerous capabilities and insufficient safeguards” in certain extreme circumstances.
Anthony Cimino, Anthropic’s head of federal affairs, said in an article on X on Sunday that the proposals were only a draft and that the company was still receiving initial feedback from policymakers.
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