US AI Firm Anthropic Plans to Pledge 5% Equity to New Public Benefit Fund Addressing AI Job Displacement

US AI unicorn Anthropic announced on October 19 that it plans to allocate 5% of its shares to establish the "Anthropic Public Benefit Fund," designed to address the impact of artificial intelligence development on the job market. The fund will be structured as a limited liability company (LLC) wholly owned by Anthropic, rather than a traditional tax-exempt charitable organization, allowing for more flexible funding to non-profits or direct support to specific groups.

According to the announcement, this equity allocation plan still requires shareholder approval. Additionally, Anthropic has set a dynamic increase mechanism: for every 50% growth in the company's valuation above an undisclosed baseline, the board may discretionarily add another 2% of the company's shares to the fund. Anthropic stated that combining this with co-founders Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei's prior pledge to donate 80% of their personal holdings, along with an employee equity donation matching program, approximately 20% of the company's total shares will ultimately be dedicated to public benefit purposes.

This fund establishment follows Anthropic's July 22 commitment to invest $200 million in researching AI's impact on jobs. Anthropic clarified that shares held by the fund will not be used for lobbying or political donations. Details regarding the fund's governance structure, organizational framework, and valuation thresholds are expected to be released in the coming months. Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented suggesting the shares be distributed directly to the public, but this remains a personal opinion and does not alter Anthropic's established plan.