Anthropic announced today that it is creating a “public interest fund” that will give the company “flexibility and scale” to support projects for social good.
Anthropic said it will contribute 5% of its stock to the fund, which is structured as a wholly-owned internal entity, with an option to contribute an additional 2% for each 50% increase in Anthropic’s value. He also offered some broad ideas for how the money would actually be used, including “large donations to traditional nonprofits and direct distribution to specific people.”
There’s also the impact AI could have on the job market, with Anthropic already spending $200 million on research. But the firm said: “Given the pace of advances in AI, bolder approaches may be required. The fund will have the versatility to pursue them.”
Anthropic’s announcement comes as the AI industry faces increasingly negative public opinion, which CEO Dario Amodei describes as a “fundamentally crisis of trust.”
If you’re wondering who actually decides which public benefits are worth funding, Anthropic said it will share further information on structure and governance in the coming months.
