$21 billion+ new pledge: Anthropic’s seven cofounders, Dario and Daniela Amodei, Tom Brown, Jack Clark, Jared Kaplan, Sam McCandlish, and Christopher Olah commit 80% of their fortunes to combat AI-driven inequality
In a striking move amid the AI boom, Anthropic’s seven billionaire cofounders—including CEO Dario Amodei and President Daniela Amodei—have pledged to donate 80% of their personal wealth to philanthropic efforts to address the societal risks of advanced artificial intelligence, particularly extreme wealth concentration and economic disruption.
The commitment, announced in late January 2026 alongside Dario Amodei’s extensive essay “The Adolescence of Technology,” comes as Anthropic negotiates a massive funding round that could value the company at $350 billion—nearly double its prior $183 billion valuation.
Public estimates peg each cofounder’s net worth at approximately $3.7 billion (based on earlier valuations), though the surging company value likely pushes individual stakes higher, potentially into the $7–10 billion range or more per founder, depending on equity percentages, dilutions, and final terms.
At the conservative $3.7 billion per cofounder figure, the 80% pledge equates to roughly $3 billion in donations from each individual, totaling over $21 billion across the seven founders.
With the company’s valuation trajectory and potential for higher personal stakes, the actual amount directed toward philanthropy could climb substantially higher, possibly reaching tens of billions overall as liquidity events unfold.
The cofounders—Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei, Tom Brown, Jack Clark, Jared Kaplan, Sam McCandlish, and Christopher Olah—all former OpenAI leaders who departed in 2020–2021 over concerns about safety and commercialization—root their decision in effective altruism-inspired principles and a belief that those profiting most from AI have a moral duty to mitigate its downsides.
In his essay, Dario Amodei warns that AI could drive explosive 10–20% annual global GDP growth while displacing large swaths of white-collar jobs and concentrating unprecedented power in the hands of a few.
He explicitly highlights wealth inequality as a breaking point for society, noting that modern tech fortunes already eclipse Gilded Age levels and that AI could push personal wealth into the trillions.
“The thing to worry about is a level of wealth concentration that will break society,” he writes, contrasting this with historical philanthropists like Rockefeller and Carnegie, who felt compelled to give back.
This isn’t isolated giving: Anthropic employees have pledged shares worth billions at current prices, with the company matching those donations to institutionalize philanthropy.
Amodei urges other wealthy tech figures to follow suit voluntarily—through donations and power-sharing—while supporting progressive taxation (including AI-specific measures) as a fallback if self-regulation falls short.
As Anthropic’s Claude models gain enterprise traction for their safety focus, and the firm eyes further growth (potentially toward an IPO), the cofounders’ action stands as a high-profile attempt to align AI’s windfalls with broader societal stability.
Amodei frames it as essential leadership: those at the forefront of the revolution must be prepared to “give away both their wealth and their power” to help ensure AI unites rather than divides humanity.