Anthropic and OpenAI Outline Plans to Share AI Wealth Ahead of IPOs
Anthropic will commit 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund, while OpenAI proposes a Public Wealth Fund, as both AI companies prepare for major public offerings and face questions about transparency and control.
Anthropic and OpenAI, the two companies at the forefront of the artificial intelligence boom, are sketching out plans to share their wealth with the public as they prepare for massive initial public offerings. The companies say the commitments are necessary to address the economic disruptions the technology could bring to the workforce and people's livelihoods.
On Sunday, Anthropic said it would commit 5% of its shares to the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, a new entity within the company, pending approval from stockholders. The stake could increase as the company grows, according to the announcement. The maker of the AI assistant Claude said the fund might explore larger donations to traditional nonprofits or potentially distribute money to specific populations. The San Francisco-based company shared little information about the types of organizations the fund will support or the issues they will address. One area it will not support, Anthropic said, is lobbying and political giving.
The pledge comes as Anthropic, valued at close to $1 trillion earlier this year, is preparing for an initial public offering as soon as next month that is shaping up as one of the biggest ever. Combined with a previously announced $200 million commitment to study the economic effects of AI, Anthropic said roughly 20% of its shares will be dedicated to the public good, plus any additional percentage that could be added if the company's valuation reaches certain milestones. The company said it would share more details about the fund's structure and governance in the coming months.
Anthropic offered labor market impacts as one example of its philanthropic focus. «AI may generate enormous economic value, but it could also cause instability for many workers,» the company said in a blog post Sunday. It added that the fund will have the versatility to pursue bolder approaches that might be necessary to offset that instability. In a May interview, Anthropic president Daniela Amodei said she expected the company's success would generally lead to more philanthropic support for disease research and for ensuring that everyone around the world gets to share in the prosperity that AI creates.
OpenAI is pursuing a different path. The company, which is planning its own IPO next year, proposed in April the creation of a Public Wealth Fund with a stake in AI-driven economic growth across companies more broadly. That fund could be invested in a handful of assets, OpenAI noted, with returns distributed directly to people regardless of whether they are invested in financial markets. Separately, the OpenAI Foundation, the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, promised earlier this year to build out its grantmaking capacity with a $1 billion commitment. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also spoken to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about sharing equity in AI companies with the public.
The pledges have met with skepticism from some critics. «Anthropic is playing games here,» Gary Marcus, a longtime AI expert and professor emeritus at New York University, wrote on social media Sunday. «Trying to curry public favor while still holding control and resisting disclosure is annoying.» Phil Buchanan, president of The Center for Effective Philanthropy, said he welcomed Anthropic's commitment, especially at a time when some billionaires are diminishing the importance of philanthropy. But he cautioned that Anthropic should avoid the arrogance of previous technology barons who assumed their professional expertise would translate to philanthropic wisdom. Buchanan recommended the fund support highly effective, existing nonprofits but said it is hard to talk about any of this because it is all so abstract. «I guess I'm hopeful,» he said, «but I'm not going to get too excited until I see some evidence of what's actually happening.»
Both companies are structured as public benefit corporations, a designation that requires them to pursue not just profit but a social good. The specifics of how charitable donations will be made through Anthropic's fund are not clear yet. Jay R. Ritter, director of The IPO Initiative at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business, explained that once a company is public, donations might be made through the selling of future shares, or potentially turning to cash dividends in the future. Regardless, Ritter said the announcement now is helpful for potential investors to know what they are buying.
The move reflects a shift in how Silicon Valley leaders approach philanthropy. During the personal computer boom, the likes of Michael Dell and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates started private foundations to manage their giving. Today, leaders including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg have turned instead to limited-liability companies, the option Anthropic is pursuing for its public benefit fund. The structure offers more control for its owners, experts say, because an LLC is not bound by the same spending rules as a foundation, which is required to distribute at least 5% of the value of its endowment. «They have a lot more flexibility and latitude in how to use the resources they put into the fund,» Ritter said.
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