One of the country’s largest artificial intelligence companies, Anthropic, said on Sunday it plans to disburse a small percentage of its stock to a “Public Benefit Fund.”
In a blog post titled, ”Investing in the public benefit,” the AI lab outlines a “new entity with a structure that increases the stake as the company grows.”
The company cites a need for “bolder approaches” to alleviating concerns AI could “cause instability for many workers.” Anthropic’s announcement comes after a summer and early fall in which data center construction and cybersecurity and safety worries emerged as key themes surrounding AI policy. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned a significant thought-leadership essay in mid-September calling for stronger guardrails on the pace of the technology’s development, and polling shows the public holds an overtly negative view of the industry.
“Subject to stockholder approval, 5% of Anthropic’s shares will be committed today, with an additional 2% added at the board’s discretion for every 50% increase in the company’s value above a set baseline,” the announcement also says.
Conversations surrounding Universal Basic Income have long run alongside debates about AI and other emerging technologies’ existential societal impact, and Sunday’s announcement signals an early movement toward redistributing AI wealth in some manner.
The post referenced Anthropic’s status as a public benefit corporation, a structure that requires management to balance turning a profit for investors with achieving a stated public mission. The company says its activities “have both a public benefit component and for-profit value, so we house them directly in the company,” and Anthropic is widely expected to go public later this year, according to Reuters. The entity will also have the flexibility to “explore large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations.”
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Elon Musk, who heads Grok, Tesla, and SpaceX, expressed support for the idea on social media on Sunday night, saying, “I recommend giving the shares directly to the public,” before saying, “This is what I will be doing.”
AI has become an increasingly important topic impacting November’s midterm elections. Lawmakers nationwide have had to grapple with the public’s shifting perception of the technology’s impact and the industry’s reputation. The fund will function as a “wholly-owned LLC,” rather than a traditional nonprofit, according to the company, and will not be used for lobbying or political donations.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
