{"text":[[{"start":8.94,"text":"Anthropic has said that it will commit 5 per cent of its shares to a new “public benefit fund” as it seeks to address public backlash against AI ahead of its planned blockbuster initial public offering."}],[{"start":21.2,"text":"The $965bn start-up on Sunday said that it would commit the shares, worth around $48bn at its latest valuation, subject to shareholder approval. It plans to add a further 2 per cent of the stock for every 50 per cent increase in the company’s value above an undisclosed baseline."}],[{"start":40.44,"text":"Anthropic said that the Public Benefit Fund, a wholly owned limited-liability company, would add to its work in fields such as AI safety and biomedical research."}],[{"start":50.36,"text":"It would be able to pursue “bolder approaches” to problems such as job losses from AI and “might explore large donations to traditional non-profits or direct distributions to specific populations”, the company said."}],[{"start":63.04,"text":"The announcement follows growing public outcry over AI, from the threat to jobs and increased data centre construction to the risk that the technology could run catastrophically out of control."}],[{"start":74.2,"text":"Anthropic has warned investors that AI poses an “existential risk to humanity”. In securities filings attached to its planned initial public offering, expected this year at a valuation around $2tn, the company has highlighted the potential for advanced models to manipulate, blackmail and exhibit other unpredictable behaviours."}],[{"start":95.16,"text":"The idea of structures to give the public a bigger financial share of the benefits of AI has long been circulated in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk responded to Anthropic’s announcement on Sunday, posting to X: “I recommend giving the shares directly to the public.”"}],[{"start":110.72,"text":"Rival OpenAI over the summer discussed proposals to put around 5 per cent of the company in public hands as it faced greater scrutiny from the Trump administration and government controls on the release of its most advanced models. Just over a quarter of OpenAI is owned by the non-profit OpenAI Foundation."}],[{"start":129.44,"text":"Anthropic has positioned itself as a force for good but faced public backlash as it has grown into one of the leading US AI labs. “The more Anthropic grows, the larger the share of the company that can be dedicated expressly to the public good,” the company said in a statement."}],[{"start":143.4,"text":"Founded in 2021 by seven ex-OpenAI staff members, including siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, concerned by the company’s safety practices and commercial direction, Anthropic was established as a public benefit corporation. The company’s directors must balance financial returns for shareholders with its public-interest mission."}],[{"start":163.48,"text":"Anthropic said that, following Sunday’s announcement, around 20 per cent of its stock would be pledged to public causes. Its founders have pledged to donate 80 per cent of their equity holdings. The company has operated an equity donation programme that allows employees to pledge equity to charities."}],[{"start":180.24,"text":"Anthropic said that its Public Benefit Fund would operate as a wholly owned limited-liability company rather than a tax-exempt charity. More details of its “structure and governance” as well as the valuation milestones that would unlock more stock commitments would be announced in the coming months, it added."}],[{"start":197,"text":"The company has also pitched a draft AI safety and security bill to US lawmakers, including enabling the courts to block the release of models that possess “dangerous capabilities and insufficient safeguards” in extreme certain circumstances."}],[{"start":210.92,"text":"Anthony Cimino, Anthropic’s head of federal affairs, on Sunday said in a post on X that these proposals were a draft and the company was still receiving early feedback from policymakers."}],[{"start":226.78,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792391269_9929.mp3"}