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throwup238 • 10/01/2024 • 1 reply • view on HN

> Shame they're already for-profit... But don't worry, they Pinky Promise to be For The Public Benefit :)

Anthropic is legally a Delaware Public Benefit corporation so it's written into their corporate governance.

How effective that governance will be at balancing the public benefit with profit remains to be seen, but it's a lot more than just a pinky promise.

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bbor • 10/01/2024

Thanks for the correction! I was mixing up "Public Benefit Corporation", which is a legal offering by state governments, and "B-Corp", which is a non-profit that certifies wholesome for-profit firms like the Tillamook Dairy Cooperative.

I'd stand by the general assertion that it's little more than a pinky promise because they merely have to "balance" the concerns according to "any reasonable person"--an extremely weak-seeming obligation to this non-lawyer--but it's certainly much more impactful than I thought, namely:

  Sections 365 (b) and (c) provide broad protection to directors of public benefit corporations against claims based on interests other than those of stockholders
https://www.legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=2235...

Good on you, Anthropic! In this specific case I believe in the director(s) a lot more than I believe in the shareholders ethics-wise, so it seems like a perfect choice. They can always fire him/them I suppose, but truly catastrophic AI risks would move faster than that, anyway.

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