Anthropic’s corporate structure is set up to try to mitigate some of the incentives problems with being a for-profit company that takes investment (and thus has fiduciary duties, and social pressure, to focus on profitable projects.) They do take investment and have a board of stakeholders, and plan to introduce a structure to ensure mission continues to be prioritized over profit.
Is there anything specifically about their corporate structure now that mitigates the incentive problems? I know they are a public benefit corporation, but many of us are unclear on what that actually means besides “Anthropic thinks they have a good mission”—since as you point out they’re still a for-profit company with investors. (I actually wasn’t able to find any info about Anthropic’s board when I searched recently, so the “board of stakeholders” is news to me.)
I know there is a ton involved in building a company like this, so it’s ok if they really do have plans to set up a more beneficial structure and just haven’t gotten around to it. But since the stakes with AGI are so high, it would be really nice to know more about what those plans are and to see them implemented so that we’re not just taking their word for it.
Thanks for doing this post series btw, it’s a really great discussion for us to get to have.
By contrast, benefit corporations expand the fiduciary duty of directors to require them to consider non-financial stakeholders as well as the interests of shareholders.[28] This gives directors and officers of mission-driven businesses the legal protection to pursue an additional mission and consider additional stakeholders.[29][30] The enacting state’s benefit corporation statutes are placed within existing state corporation codes so that the codes apply to benefit corporations in every respect except those explicit provisions unique to the benefit corporation form.
Registering as a Public Benefit corporation means that they, the board of directions of the corporation, can’t be sued for failing to maximize shareholder value, and potentially could be challenged if they “fail to consider the effect decisions on stakeholders beyond shareholders.”
It would be interesting if they filed as a certified benefit corporation, B Corp, but I’m not sure what would be at stake if they failed to live up to that standard. Perhaps B Lab (non-profit who certified B Corps), or a similar new entity, should endeavor to create a new status for recognizing safe and responsible creation, handling and governance controls of powerful AIs. With external certifications one worries about Goodhard’s law, and “safety-washing” to take the place of “green-washing”, especially given the (current) non-enforceability of B Corp standards.
Do you find OpenAI’s LP entity more credible? Do you have ideas about another legal structure?
Is there anything specifically about their corporate structure now that mitigates the incentive problems? I know they are a public benefit corporation, but many of us are unclear on what that actually means besides “Anthropic thinks they have a good mission”—since as you point out they’re still a for-profit company with investors. (I actually wasn’t able to find any info about Anthropic’s board when I searched recently, so the “board of stakeholders” is news to me.)
I know there is a ton involved in building a company like this, so it’s ok if they really do have plans to set up a more beneficial structure and just haven’t gotten around to it. But since the stakes with AGI are so high, it would be really nice to know more about what those plans are and to see them implemented so that we’re not just taking their word for it.
Thanks for doing this post series btw, it’s a really great discussion for us to get to have.
Great update from Anthropic on giving majority control of the board to a financially disinterested trust: https://twitter.com/dylanmatt/status/1680924158572793856
Yes, benefit corporation were created to provide an alternative to “shareholder primacy”, otherwise widely accepted in law and custom, per Wikipedia: Benefit_corporation#Differences_from_traditional_corporations. Further quoting:
Registering as a Public Benefit corporation means that they, the board of directions of the corporation, can’t be sued for failing to maximize shareholder value, and potentially could be challenged if they “fail to consider the effect decisions on stakeholders beyond shareholders.”
It would be interesting if they filed as a certified benefit corporation, B Corp, but I’m not sure what would be at stake if they failed to live up to that standard. Perhaps B Lab (non-profit who certified B Corps), or a similar new entity, should endeavor to create a new status for recognizing safe and responsible creation, handling and governance controls of powerful AIs. With external certifications one worries about Goodhard’s law, and “safety-washing” to take the place of “green-washing”, especially given the (current) non-enforceability of B Corp standards.
Do you find OpenAI’s LP entity more credible? Do you have ideas about another legal structure?