As they steam toward massive public offerings on Wall Street, the companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence have begun sketching plans to share their wealth with the public — a commitment they say is imperative to address disruptions the technology could bring to the workforce and people’s livelihoods.

Executives at Anthropic and OpenAI have long argued the technology’s arrival will bring many benefits for everyday people, and they’ve promised that will include a share of the profits. The companies are outlining a range of proposals for distributing AI fortunes, but so far they have not resolved key questions over how they would work, how transparent they will be, and who will determine beneficiaries.

On Sunday, Anthropic said it would commit 5% of its shares to the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, a new entity within the company, pending approval from stockholders. The stake could increase “as the company grows” in the future. The maker of AI assistant Claude said the fund “might explore” larger donations to traditional nonprofits or potentially distribute money to “specific populations.”

The San Francisco-based company shared little information about the types of organizations supported by the fund and the issues they will address. One area it will not support, Anthropic said, is lobbying and political giving.

” But he cautioned that Anthropic should avoid the “arrogance” of previous technology barons who assumed their professional expertise would translate to philanthropic wisdom.

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