Anthropic says it will dedicate 5% of its shares to a fund for the ‘public good.’ The public is skeptical

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…

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