Anthropic is putting 5% of itself in a fund for the people AI might put out of work

Most companies preparing for a giant IPO spend the final weeks making their numbers look bigger. Anthropic spent Sunday announcing it would give a piece of itself away.

In a blog post on Oct. 18, the Claude maker said it is committing shares to a new entity called the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. The opening stake, subject to stockholder approval, is 5% of the company. On top of that, the board can add another 2% for every 50% increase in Anthropic's value above a set baseline. The company has not said what that baseline is.

The size is what grabs you. Anthropic told investors its third-quarter revenue reached $16.8 billion, according to CNBC, and the company is widely reported to be planning a public listing as soon as November. Al Jazeera reported that analysts are forecasting a valuation above $2 trillion. Five percent of a company in that range is worth tens of billions of dollars, and the stake is designed to grow faster than the company does.

What the money is for

Anthropic's post is light on specifics and open about it. The fund, it says, will have "increased flexibility and scale," and could be used for "large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations." That second phrase is the interesting one. Direct distributions to specific populations is a polite way of saying cash to people.

Which people? The post names one example: workers. "AI may generate enormous economic value, but it could also cause instability for many workers," the company wrote. It says it has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing the labor effects of AI, "but given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed." CNBC points to an August Pew Research Center survey in which 71% of US adults said they expect AI to lead to fewer jobs over the next two years. Anthropic sells software that writes code, drafts contracts and answers support tickets. It knows who those 71% are worried about.

The structure is the part to watch. The fund is not a 501(c)(3) charity. Anthropic is setting it up as a wholly owned LLC, which it says gives "adjustability between different forms of giving." A wholly owned LLC is, by definition, controlled by its parent. Anthropic has added one hard limit: none of the equity held by the LLC will be used for lobbying or political giving, in the US or abroad. Governance, who decides where the money goes, and the valuation milestones are all promised "in the coming months."

Anthropic frames the escalator as a deliberate jab at Silicon Valley pay culture. "It is common practice for tech companies to offer escalating compensation awards to their executives," the post says. "We are instead directing that equity to the public benefit." Combined with the co-founders' original pledge to donate 80% of their equity and an employee donation-matching program that about half of staff use, the company says roughly 20% of its shares will be dedicated to the public good.

The cynical read, and the other one

Lise Buyer, a partner at IPO advisory firm Class V Group, told CNBC the timing is both necessary preparation for going public and "beneficial from an image perspective." She added: "Of course, it is also to burnish their reputation at a time when AI is coming under significant scrutiny." Buyer also said the move could land well if the money really does go to retraining or helping displaced workers find new jobs.

Both things can be true. A company that expects to be blamed for job losses has every reason to build a fund with its name on it before the blaming starts. It also has every reason to want the eventual answer to "what did you do about it?" to be something better than a white paper. Five percent of the company is real money, and the stake is tied to the growth that would be doing the displacing. If Anthropic's products eat more jobs, its value goes up, and so does the fund. That is a neat piece of design, assuming the board actually uses the discretion it has given itself.

Elon Musk, who runs several companies competing with Anthropic, had a shorter response. In a post on X cited by CNBC, he said he "recommend[s] giving the shares directly to the public."

Snark aside, that is close to the real question. An LLC owned by Anthropic, with governance still unwritten, decides who counts as a "specific population" and what they receive. Shareholders have to approve the plan. The baseline that triggers the extra 2% is unknown. Everything that would tell you whether this is a safety net or a press release is still marked "coming months."

Anthropic says it will report on the fund in an upcoming public benefit report. The IPO filing may arrive first. If it does, the most useful page in the prospectus might be the one that explains who controls 5% of the company and what they plan to do with it.

Sources: Anthropic: Investing in the public benefit, CNBC: Anthropic commits 5% of shares to new public benefit fund, Al Jazeera: Anthropic says it will commit 5% of shares to 'public benefit' fund.