Anthropic established a public welfare fund, committing to invest 5% of its shares

On October 18, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced that it would allocate a portion of its company shares to the newly established Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, with the shareholding ratio of this entity increasing as the company grows. Subject to shareholder approval, the company committed to contributing 5% of Anthropic shares on that day; thereafter, for every 50% increase in company value above a set benchmark, the board may discretionarily increase the contribution by an additional 2%.

The fund will be established as a wholly-owned LLC rather than a 501(c)(3) or other forms, allowing for adjustments between different donation methods. The Anthropic equity held by the fund will not be used for lobbying or political donations in the U.S. or abroad. Anthropic stated that the fund aims to advance its mission with greater flexibility and scale, such as making large donations to traditional non-profit organizations or directly allocating resources to specific populations. The company had previously committed $200 million to research and address the impact of AI on the labor market.

As a public benefit corporation, most of the mission-related work is still conducted internally, including AI safety and explainability research, applied biomedical research, and providing discounts on Claude to non-profit organizations and research institutions. At the company's founding, the co-founders committed to donating 80% of their equity holdings; the company also operates an equity donation matching program, with about half of the employees participating. With this announcement, approximately 20% of Anthropic shares will be used for public benefit, and this percentage may increase after reaching specific valuation milestones. The structure, governance, and corresponding milestones of the fund will be announced in the coming months.