Anthropic’s upcoming IPO is going to make its founders very, very rich. And unfortunately for freedom-loving Americans, it will dramatically expand the liquid resources of the Effective Altruism (EA)-linked network surrounding the company, putting extraordinary amounts of cash behind people and groups that are trying to manipulate society into bending to its ideals.
At a reported potential valuation of $1.5–$2 trillion, Anthropic’s seven cofounders will hold approximately $150–$200 billion in combined equity. They have already pledged 80 percent of their personal Anthropic equity to philanthropic causes. Of course, we know how that game works in politics. “Philanthropy” quickly becomes a weaponized political agenda. See: Soros, Steyer, etc.
Dario Amodei and his cofounders will soon acquire the capacity to reshape an entire policy ecosystem in Washington, D.C., and it would behoove lawmakers and policymakers to get ready for the unprecedented infusion of EA-aligned capital and resources soon entering the system.
The money
Anthropic released its S-1 IPO filing earlier this week, and it provides a much firmer basis for estimating founder wealth. The disclosed holdings are evenly distributed, with each founder owning approximately 1.4 percent on an estimated fully diluted basis.
Using the reported founder share counts and approximately 16.94 billion fully diluted shares implied by the filing, I created a table that produces the following likely scenarios:
Anthropic’s founders are already wealthy on paper, and access to public markets will soon make their fortunes much easier to deploy.
Anthropic has long had a close association with the broader Effective Altruism movement in the Bay Area.
In an interview with the EA-associated organization 80,000 Hours, Anthropic cofounder Chris Olah recalled that Amodei was giving substantial amounts from his graduate-student stipend to GiveWell, another EA-aligned charity, as early as 2012–2013. That giving helped bring him into contact with Holden Karnofsky, who cofounded GiveWell and Open Philanthropy, another EA-aligned nonprofit entity.
Karnofsky is married to Daniela Amodei (Dario’s sister), who also cofounded Anthropic. Open Philanthropy, since renamed Coefficient Giving (in part to wash their hands of the FTX-Sam Bankman-Fried scandal), is a major institution in the EA funding ecosystem. It has already been reported that Dario Amodei and Jack Clark have both signed the Giving What We Can pledge, an EA-aligned campaign that calls on people to commit at least 10 percent of income to “effective” charities.
Benjamin Mann, another Anthropic cofounder who was not listed on the S-1 for reasons unknown, published an essay in 2019 titled “Why I now identify as an Effective Altruist.”
We aren’t just guessing when it comes to Anthropic’s plan to donate heavily to Democrats and push them to pursue Effective Altruist priorities.
In May, Dario Amodei personally donated $1 million to Public First, a super PAC supporting candidates who favor AI/SI doomer talking points and heavy-handed regulatory capture of the technology. Its affiliated network spent heavily supporting Democratic congressional candidate Alex Bores. Separately, Daniela Amodei’s donations include large sums to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris.
Anthropic itself has contributed $40 million to Public First Action, the advocacy arm of Public First.
There is a documented overlap between enormous Anthropic-related wealth, EA-linked institutions, Democratic donors, and a relentless campaign in D.C. to pursue regulatory capture on behalf of the top AI/SI frontier companies.
The Anthropic cofounders are deploying their wealth, but not their control over the company.
The governance arrangement, according to Anthropic’s IPO prospectus, shows that a single Class F share held by Founder LLC will carry 50.1 percent of voting power on matters submitted to shareholders generally. This shields them from any public investor attempts to steer the company in a new direction, should anyone acquire a substantial position. The Anthropic co-founders designed a system so that they can give away most of their economic stakes without a corresponding reduction in their voting power.
Sure, not every dollar pledged will fund superintelligence doomerism. Some could be healthcare, scientific research, and the like.
But the concentration of power in one vehicle supported by like-minded ideologues deserves some serious scrutiny. Anthropic’s IPO will undoubtedly turn an already robust network into an even far wealthier and more influential one.
The people building some of the world’s most powerful technologies may soon try to push ideas upon Washington lawmakers that are entirely detached from the interests of their constituents. Now, more than ever, politicians and policymakers need to be aware of the storm coming shortly after the midterms.
Originally published at American Greatness
Edifying.
Thank you, Jordan.