Anthropic’s AI Worker Fund Plan Draws Musk’s SpaceX Share Counterproposal

Anthropic plans to put five percent of its shares into a new Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, pending shareholder approval. The fund would either make large donations to traditional nonprofits or explore direct payouts to certain populations, with a focus on workers at risk from AI-driven job disruption. The proposal stands out because direct payments are named as an option, not just research or philanthropy.

The fund is planned as a wholly owned LLC subsidiary rather than a tax-exempt nonprofit, which Anthropic says gives it more flexibility. That structure also means the company keeps control, even as it prepares for a possible IPO. The promised additional share contributions are not automatic; they are at the board’s discretion, and Anthropic has not yet detailed the valuation milestones or governance setup.

The fund is tied to concerns about job-market disruption from fast-moving AI systems. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly warned about social and economic upheaval, and the company has already committed $200 million to research labor-market effects. If approved and implemented, the fund could become a test case for whether AI companies use equity-linked mechanisms to address economic harms linked to their own technology.

Elon Musk responded on X by saying Anthropic should give shares directly to the public. He later said he plans next year to give one of his own SpaceX shares, currently worth around $146, to each of the roughly 72 million children in the U.S., though he did not explain how the distribution would work. The article also contrasts Anthropic’s plan with OpenAI’s nonprofit-linked structure and Google’s more traditional philanthropy, noting that Anthropic goes further by explicitly naming direct payments as an option.