Anthropic plans to take 5% of the shares to establish a “public interest fund” to respond to AI unemployment and safety concerns on the eve of the IPO

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Anthropic PBC said it plans to invest 5% of its shares in a newly established public interest fund to enable it to make donations to promote the “public good”, including mitigating the impact of AI on the job market.

The announcement comes at a time when the rapidly growing artificial intelligence startup is preparing for an IPO, which is expected to be one of the largest IPOs in history. At the same time, in the face of the trend of enterprises increasingly adopting AI agents that can replace humans, Anthropic is also trying to respond to growing concerns from the outside world, from hacker attacks to AI security and the possible unexpected effects of large-scale unemployment.

According to the statement, the new Anthropic public interest fund will enable the company to advance its mission “in new ways”, such as dealing with “labor market impacts” with part of the funding.

In recent weeks, warnings about catastrophic AI scenarios — which critics say could put humans at risk — have brought AI security into the spotlight and elevated to the highest political level.

US President Donald Trump hosted Silicon Valley leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, at the White House in September. In the face of Trump's refusal to introduce new federal regulations, he agreed with these executives on a framework: AI companies hire external auditors to assess the security risks of AI models and implement stronger internal controls.

People familiar with the matter said in early October that Anthropic, behind Claude's big language model, may officially launch an IPO roadshow as early as November 9, so it is expected that trading will begin before the US Thanksgiving holiday.

Anthropic said that after approval, the new fund will become a wholly-owned limited liability company rather than a non-profit organization, and will expand as the company grows. The statement said that Anthropic shares held by the LLC will not be used for lobbying or political donations in the US or overseas.

A public interest fund is a new type of “impact” investment fund that aims to exceed financial return goals while having a positive social or environmental impact.

The company said, “Subject to shareholder approval, Anthropic will commit to invest 5% of the shares today, and for every 50% increase in the company's valuation from the established baseline, the board of directors may increase another 2% at its discretion.”

Anthropic recently submitted its own draft bill to US lawmakers on how to regulate AI safety and security, and suggests that if an AI model could kill or injure more than 50 people, or cause more than $1 billion in losses, the government could block its release.

Those warning about AI risks include Christalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She said the technology could bring “a slow-moving tsunami,” emptying the low-wage job market.

Anthropic has spent most of this year battling the US government, and this matter has brought attention to its wider national impact. Previously, the company was flagged as a supply chain risk for trying to limit the Pentagon and other potential uses, even though it had previously provided AI to develop autonomous drone technology and other confidential uses to assist military operations. Tensions between the White House and the company have eased somewhat in recent weeks.