Anthropic Long-Term Benefit Trust names former Fed chair Ben Bernanke trustee
Anthropic has put a former Fed chair inside its governance: Ben Bernanke joins the Long-Term Benefit Trust, the independent body that advises the board on AI's risks and societal impact. Trustees hold no equity in the company. Per CNBC and Anthropic.
Anthropic announced on July 9 that Ben Bernanke, former chair of the Federal Reserve and now a Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution, is joining its Long-Term Benefit Trust. The trust is the unusual governance body at the center of the AI company's structure: its trustees advise the board and leadership on critical decisions, particularly those involving the potential risks and societal impacts of AI, and they are deliberately independent. Trustees hold no equity in Anthropic, do not share in its profits and are compensated only for their time. Bernanke joins existing trustees Neil Buddy Shah, Richard Fontaine and Mariano-Florentino Cuellar. According to Anthropic, his appointment brings expertise to one of the questions the company studies most closely: how AI is changing the economy. Bernanke, who led the Fed through the 2008 global financial crisis, wrote that the range of outcomes for AI will depend in part on the institutions built around it. The appointment is a signal about where the AI debate is heading. Labor markets, productivity and inequality effects of AI are moving from research papers into the governance structures of the companies building the technology, and Anthropic is now placing a former central banker at that intersection. Reported by CNBC; announcement at anthropic.com.