Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models, announced the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, on Sunday, October 18.

To start, the fund will get 5% of Anthropic’s shares. This first step still needs a green light from the company’s stockholders.

Then the shares would be left to grow as the company gets more valuable. And each time Anthropic’s value rises by 50% above a set starting point, the board can choose to add another 2%.

Anthropic points out that many tech companies hand out growing stock rewards to top bosses. Here, the company says it is steering that kind of equity toward the public instead.

An LLC

Interestingly, the fund won’t be a typical charity. Anthropic is setting it up as an LLC that the company fully owns. It is not a 501(c)(3) either, the usual nonprofit format in the U.S.

An LLC gives the company more room to switch between different kinds of giving. A classic charity has tighter rules about how money can flow.

Anthropic has, however, ascertained that none of the fund’s equity will go toward lobbying or political donations in the U.S. and in every other country.

Expenditure 

The fund could make large gifts to conventional nonprofits or send money straight to specific groups of people.

Much of Anthropic’s public-good work already happens inside the company. 

That includes AI safety research, biomedical research, and cheaper Claude access for nonprofits and science groups. 

Since that work also has business value, it stays in-house. Therefore, the new fund is meant for things that don’t fit inside the company as easily.

Jobs and the Economy

Anthropic has already pledged $200 million to study and respond to AI’s effects on jobs. Even so, the company admits that may not be enough. 

It says AI is moving fast, so more drastic interventions might be needed. And the fund is built to be flexible enough to take them.

This isn’t Anthropic’s first pledge of its kind. When the company launched, its co-founders promised to give away 80% of their own equity.

On top of that, Anthropic runs a program for employees. Workers can pledge some of their shares, and the company matches those pledges. About half of the staff takes part.

Add it all up with the new fund, and roughly 20% of Anthropic’s shares will go toward the public good. That number could climb if the company hits certain value targets.