Anthropic just released a pledge to commit 5% of its total shares to a new fund to be used for the “public good.” The public isn’t so sure.
The privately held AI company, which is planning what could be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in stock market history, published a press release announcing the creation of the “Anthropic Public Benefit Fund,” a “wholly-owned LLC” that will, per the company, be dedicated to the public benefit.
To start, the fund will hold 5% of Anthropic’s shares, with “an additional 2% added at the board’s discretion for every 50% increase in the company’s value above a set baseline.”
So far, reaction to the news on social media has been largely skeptical.
Compared to earlier this year, when Anthropic scored a major usership boost after butting heads with President Trump and the Pentagon, the reaction to this latest update from the company demonstrates how, in our current climate of rising AI doomerism, Anthropic’s reputation as a do-gooder AI company has soured.
How does the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund work?
Information about how the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund will function is fairly limited.
According to the company, the LLC format was chosen over a 501(c)(3) “to give adjustability between different forms of giving.”
Specifically, Anthropic says the fund might be used to explore large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations.
“One example is labor market impacts,” the press release reads. “AI may generate enormous economic value, but it could also cause instability for many workers. Anthropic has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing this issue, but given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed. The Fund will have the versatility to pursue them.”
None of the Anthropic equity held by the LLC, Anthropic says, will be used for lobbying or political giving.
Social media responds
So far, the online reception to Anthropic’s announcement is lukewarm at best. While some commenters are optimistic about the fund’s potential, initial reactions are rife with concerns about Anthropic’s intentions.
Under Anthropic’s official announcement post on X, many commenters have pointed out the vague wording of the press release.
“What determines public good? It’s such an abstract statement wholly rooted in personal perspective,” one user responded. Another added, “donate to where? many philanthropic organizations are a net negative to society, if not outright destructive. how will you balance that?”
Others are outright accusing Anthropic of setting up the fund as a tax write-off.
“great way of avoiding taxes,” one wrote. Another chimed in, “thanks for announcing the tax write off.”
One particularly scathing response came from Eric Pacifici, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer and co-founder of SMB Law Group.
“There’s something very funny and slightly terrifying about an AI company setting aside money to help people who might lose their jobs to AI,” he wrote on X, adding, “Your job gets automated. The company that automated it gets more valuable. Its charitable fund gets richer. You apply for assistance.”
We’ve reached out to Anthropic for comment.
No more Mr. AI good guy
The tenor of the conversation feels like a hard pivot from March of this year, when Anthropic gained a legion of new fans after opposing the Pentagon’s use of its tech for mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
The public support for the company was so widespread that the Claude app temporarily went down due to, per the company, “unprecedented demand.”
Earlier this year, Anthropic was also using advertising to position itself as the AI giant for the people—including via one award-winning campaign poking fun at OpenAI’s ad tier, and another ad asking questions like, “Could AI help people stop feeling misunderstood? Could AI help me build more connections in the community? Can AI help me be a better teacher and a better mom?”
At the time, it felt like Anthropic was riding high on the public’s preference.
A lot has changed in the past few months, though.
After former AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who resigned from Anthropic in early September, asserted that “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all,” discussions about AI’s existential potential have dominated the tech world.
One key voice has been Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has repeatedly shared his concerns about the potential misuse of AI and called for greater regulation around the pace of its development.
Amodei has been so outspoken, in fact, that Saturday Night Live recently parodied him in a “Weekend Update” sketch wherein he was used as the prime example of a hypocritical AI CEO: one who warns the public about AI while also actively pushing the technology forward.
In the midst of this conversation—with many of the biggest players in the AI game admitting their own fears about the tech—it appears that Anthropic will be fighting an uphill battle to convince Americans that its new fund is actually designed for the public good.
