Anthropic Commits 5% of Its Shares to New Public Benefit Fund Ahead of Planned IPO

SAN FRANCISCO – Artificial intelligence company Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI assistant, announced on Sunday that it will commit 5% of its shares to a newly created Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, with the stake designed to grow as the company’s valuation rises.

The commitment is subject to stockholder approval. Under the arrangement, an additional 2% of the company’s shares may be added to the fund, at the board’s discretion, for every 50% increase in Anthropic’s value above a set baseline that has yet to be disclosed. The company said the structure means that the larger Anthropic grows, the greater the share of the company that can be devoted expressly to the public good.

According to the company, the fund could support a range of initiatives, including donations to traditional nonprofit organisations, direct distributions to specific populations, and efforts to address the impact of artificial intelligence on the labour market and workers. Anthropic said the fund would give it greater flexibility and scale in pursuing its mission, and could back larger-scale efforts if required.

The fund will be established as a limited liability company wholly owned by Anthropic, rather than as a traditional charity, a structure the company said would allow flexibility across different forms of giving. Anthropic stressed that none of the equity held by the fund would be used for lobbying or political donations, either in the United States or abroad.

The new commitment adds to earlier pledges by the company’s founders and employees. Taken together, roughly 20% of Anthropic’s shares would be dedicated to public purposes, excluding any further shares that could be allocated if the company reaches future valuation milestones.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and registered as a public benefit corporation in Delaware, Anthropic operates under a legal structure that requires its management to weigh broader public interests alongside profitability. The company is reportedly preparing for what could be one of the largest initial public offerings in history.

The announcement comes as leading AI companies face growing public scrutiny over the risks posed by the technology, including concerns over job displacement. Responding to Anthropic’s announcement on the social media platform X, Elon Musk recommended giving shares directly to the public, and separately pledged to give one SpaceX share to every child in America.

Anthropic said it would provide further details in the coming months on the fund’s governance, structure and the valuation thresholds that could expand its stake, and that it plans to publish a public benefit report setting out its progress toward its mission.