Anthropic announced Tuesday that it has appointed legal and international affairs expert Mariano Florentino Cuellar to its long-term benefit trust. The Long Term Benefit Trust is Anthropic’s independent governance structure that selects Anthropic’s board members and advises management.
Cuellar has served in three U.S. presidential administrations, served as a justice on the California Supreme Court, and is chairman of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, according to the release. He is also chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, but will leave that position in July to take a leadership role at Stanford University.
“As AI capabilities advance at an unprecedented pace, the need for governance structures that combine private sector dynamism with citizen responsibility has never been more urgent,” Cuellar said in a statement.
In addition to Cuellar’s appointment to the trust, Antropic announced on Tuesday that two other members, Evidence Action CEO Kanika Bahl and Center for Effective Altruism CEO Zachary Robinson, had completed their terms.
Anthropic said Barr and Robinson had been members of the trust since its inception.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI research executives, and its Series A investment documents described an early version of a long-term benefit trust, but the company revealed details of the entity in 2023.
Trust members have no financial interest in Anthropic, which has been valued at $350 billion.
Anthropic said on Tuesday that the new board members will be selected by existing directors in consultation with the company, and that the group aims to help the company “maximize the benefits and reduce risks of advanced AI.”
Mr. Anthropic described the trust as an “experiment” that could ultimately change.
“As the capabilities of AI systems increase, we need leaders who have spent their careers thinking deeply about the role of technology in society,” Anthropic Chairman Daniela Amodei said in a statement. “We are also extremely grateful to Kanika Bahl and Zac Robinson for their contributions to the Trust’s formative years. Without them, the Trust would not be where it is today.”
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