Anthropic Pledges 5% of Shares to Public Benefit Fund as AI Wealth Debate Intensifies

Anthropic said it would commit 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund, joining a growing list of corporate philanthropic vehicles as political pressure mounts over how AI-generated wealth is distributed. The Claude maker announced the pledge in a blog post on Sunday, saying the fund could support nonprofit donations, direct distributions to specific populations and efforts to address AI's impact on the labor market. The fund will be structured as a wholly owned limited liability company and would receive an additional 2% of Anthropic's shares, at the board's discretion, for every 50% increase in company value above an undisclosed baseline, Reuters reported October 20. The pledge comes months after U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill that would give the public a 50% stake in the largest U.S. AI companies. For comparison, OpenAI's nonprofit foundation holds a 26% stake in its for-profit arm, worth about $130 billion at the time of its October 2025 restructuring, plus a warrant for additional equity if OpenAI Group's share price rises more than tenfold over 15 years. The Gates Foundation, founded in 2000, invested more than $102.3 billion in its first 25 years and plans a record $9 billion payout in 2026.