The $48bn giveaway comes amid concerns about the tech and preparations for a stock market listing

Anthropic has said it will commit 5% of its shares to a fund for the “public good”, as the AI developer behind the Claude chatbot seeks to bolster its appeal before its stock market listing.

The company announced it would commit the shares, worth around $48bn (£36bn) 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.

The fund will allow Anthropic to “explore large donations to traditional nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations”, the company said.

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.

“AI may generate enormous economic value, but it could also cause instability for many workers,” Anthropic wrote in a blogpost.

It said that while it had already committed $200m to addressing the issue, “given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed. The fund will have the versatility to pursue them.”

The company, which is preparing to list on the stock market, has called for a slowdown in breakneck development of AI, a warning later echoed by rivals such as OpenAI.

Anthropic was valued at $965bn in May when it raised $65bn in a funding round. 5tn valuation when it floats on the stock market, with an IPO planned for November.

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