Anthropic commits 5% to public benefit

Anthropic announced it will commit at least 5% of its shares to a public benefit fund. The company said it would create a separate corporation with the shares to make donations.

Musk says give shares directly to public

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and AI, responded on X. He wrote, I recommend giving the shares directly to the public. This is what I will be doing.

“I recommend giving the shares directly to the public. This is what I will be doing.”

Luckey questions Anthropic's definition of public good

Palmer Luckey, Anduril Industries cofounder, expressed concern about what Anthropic might fund. He wrote on X that their definition of public good is helping everyone else, not the American public.

“The problem is that their definition of 'public good' is helping everyone else, not the American public.”

Curran sees potential universal basic income plan

AI analyst Andrew Curran zeroed in on Anthropic's mention of direct distributions to specific populations. He wrote on X that it sounds like they are planning their own form of self-directed global UBI.

“It sounds to me like they are planning their own form of self-directed global UBI.”

Curran notes Anthropic employees are also donating

Curran added that about half of Anthropic employees are also donating shares into this fund. They foresee a transformative future, he wrote.

“About half of Anth employees are also donating shares into this fund. They foresee a transformative future.”

Gerstner calls it extraordinary but warns of concentration

Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital, praised Anthropic's philanthropic commitments as an extraordinary gift. But he sounded a note of caution about foundation wealth concentration.

Heutmaker calls it the reverse OpenAI

Sam Hogan Heutmaker, CEO of Inference, compared Anthropic's plan to OpenAI's path.He wrote on X, This will come to be known as the reverse OpenAI.

“This will come to be known as 'the reverse OpenAI' start as C corp, raise lots of money > once successful, start 'independent' non profit.”

Marcus says pledge reeks of desperation

Gary Marcus, professor at NYU, cast the announcement as a PR gambit. He wrote on X that Anthropic is playing games, trying to curry public favor while still holding control and resisting disclosure.

“Anthropic is playing games here. Trying to curry public favor while still holding control and resisting disclosure is annoying. And reeks of desperation.”

Roose estimates pledge could reach 200 billion dollars

Kevin Roose, former New York Times tech columnist, highlighted the potential scale. He estimated the share pledge could be worth 200 billion dollars if Anthropic goes public at a 1 trillion dollar valuation.

Roose compares to five Gates Foundations

Roose said if Anthropic and OpenAI each go public at 1 trillion dollars, that is roughly 460 billion dollars, or five Gates Foundations, earmarked for philanthropy-shaped things.

“By my count, if Anthropic and OpenAI each go public at $1 trillion (again, probably conservative), that's roughly $460 billion, or 5 Gates Foundations, earmarked for philanthropy-shaped things.”

Brown calls capital structure brilliant

Will Brown, research lead at AI company Prime Intellect, called the capital structure brilliant. He wrote that everyone at Anthropic agrees to lock roughly half their shares as illiquid collateral for funding research.

“everyone at anthropic agrees to lock ~half their shares as illiquid collateral for funding the kinds of research anthropic already does a lot of.”