What smart people are saying about Anthropic's 5% 'public benefit' pledge
Anthropic's announcement generated enthusiasm, skepticism, and lots of questions.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei pledged at least 5% of the company's shares to a public benefit fund. The announcement drew mixed reactions from tech leaders and AI analysts. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceXAI, suggested giving the shares directly to the public, stating, "I recommend giving the shares directly to the public." Palmer Luckey, cofounder of Anduril Industries, expressed concern, saying, "The problem is that their definition of 'public good' is helping everyone else, not the American public."
Andrew Curran, an AI analyst, noted the fund might explore direct distributions to specific populations, mentioning, "It sounds to me like they are planning their own form of self-directed global UBI." Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital, praised Anthropic's philanthropic commitments but cautioned about foundation wealth concentration.
He hoped a meaningful portion of AI's wealth goes directly to citizens. Sam Hogan Heutmaker, CEO of Inference, drew a comparison to OpenAI, calling Anthropic's plan a "reverse OpenAI" where a C corp raises money and later creates an independent non-profit entity. Gary Marcus, professor at NYU, viewed the announcement as a PR move, criticizing Anthropic's control over the funds.
Patrick Moorhead questioned whether Anthropic would have too much control over the funds, suggesting the public would know better how to use the money.
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