AI Companies Announce Wealth-Sharing Plans Ahead of IPOs

AI giants preparing for IPOs on Wall Street are announcing new strategies to address potential disruptions the technology may cause in the labor market and to allow society to benefit from the generated economic value. Anthropic announced it will transfer 5% of its shares to the newly established Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, while OpenAI came to the forefront with a proposal to create a Public Wealth Fund.

Anthropic plans to transfer 5% of its shares to the 'Anthropic Public Benefit Fund', subject to shareholder approval. With this step, the total share ratio allocated by the company to social benefit reaches approximately 20%. The company stated that this fund could make more donations based on future growth rates and adopt flexible approaches to address instabilities in the labor market.

OpenAI, on the other hand, had brought up the proposal to create a 'Public Wealth Fund' in April. The company aims for the returns derived from AI-driven economic growth to be distributed directly to individuals, regardless of whether they invest in financial markets. OpenAI had made a $1 billion commitment earlier this year to increase its grant capacity.

Evaluation: Experts point out that structuring these funds as limited liability companies (LLCs) rather than traditional foundations provides more flexibility, but raises questions regarding transparency and oversight. Brian Mittendorf from Ohio State University states that these moves are more of a statement of intent for the future rather than concrete actions yet.