Anthropic plans to hand 5 percent of its shares to a new fund aimed at the public good, with the stake set to grow as the company's value rises. The Claude maker unveiled the "Anthropic Public Benefit Fund" on Sunday, at a time when AI firms are under heavy scrutiny over the risks of frontier technology.

In a blog post, the San Francisco company said the 5 percent commitment takes effect immediately, pending stockholder approval. A further 2 percent would be added at the board's discretion for every 50 percent jump in company value. "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," it said.

Anthropic framed the move as a departure from standard tech practice, saying firms typically hand out escalating equity awards to executives while it is directing that equity to public benefit instead. The fund could make donations to traditional nonprofits or issue "direct distributions to specific populations," and it may address labour market disruption caused by AI. Anthropic said it has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing that issue, but that "bolder approaches may be needed" given the pace of AI progress.

The company, registered as a public benefit corporation in Delaware, said the fund would not be used for lobbying or political donations in the US or abroad. Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic is preparing for what could be the largest public initial offering in history, with expectations of listing on the US stock market before the end of 2026 and analyst forecasts of a valuation above $2 trillion. Its charter requires leadership to balance shareholder returns with responsible AI development. Anxiety about AI's effects on society, including the job market, has grown; McKinsey estimated last month that up to 11 million American workers may need to change careers over the next decade because of AI-driven automation.

Source: Al Jazeera