Anthropic has said it will commit 5% of its shares to a fund for the \u201cpublic good\u201d, as the AI developer behind the Claude chatbot seeks to bolster its appeal before its stock market listing.<\/p>\n
The company announced it would commit the shares, worth around $48bn (\u00a336bn) at its latest valuation in May, subject to shareholder approval. It will add a further 2% of its stock to the fund for every 50% increase in its value above an undisclosed baseline.<\/p>\n
The fund will allow Anthropic to \u201cexplore large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations\u201d, the company said.<\/p>\n
The move comes amid growing public nervousness about AI, from the threat to human labour to the impact on the environment and its influence on social behaviours.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI may generate enormous economic value, but it could also cause instability for many workers,\u201d Anthropic wrote in a blogpost.<\/p>\n
It said that while it had already committed $200m to addressing the issue, \u201cgiven the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed. The fund will have the versatility to pursue them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company, which is preparing to list on the stock market, has called for a slowdown<\/a> in breakneck development of AI, a warning later echoed by rivals such as OpenAI.<\/a><\/p>\n Anthropic was valued at $965bn in May when it raised $65bn in a funding round. The company is reportedly considering a $1.5tn valuation when it floats on the stock market, with an IPO planned for November.<\/p>\n Last week, Anthropic said some of its AI models could soon become \u201cself-replicating\u201d and find ways to infiltrate internet-connected devices such as smart fridges and automatic vacuum cleaners.<\/p>\n Elon Musk plans to \u2018give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America\u2019. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes\/Reuters<\/p>\n It said that once this happens, the models would be able to power themselves without the need of datacentres.<\/p>\n Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, responded to Anthropic\u2019s plans for a public benefit fund on social media by pledging to give some of his own shares away.<\/p>\n \u201cI recommend giving the shares directly to the public,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThis is what I will be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n He later announced: \u201cNext year, I will give one of my SpaceX<\/a> shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many.\u201d<\/p>\n Shares in SpaceX, which is listed on the Nasdaq in the US, rose by 1% in pre-market trading on Monday. The company has lost about 9% of its value since it joined the stock market in June.<\/p>\n