Silicon Valley’s Next IPO Billionaires Face a Wave of Nonprofit Donors
▼ Summary
– Ryan Carrier founded the nonprofit ForHumanity in 2016 to audit AI systems after witnessing a lack of governance in AI, but it remains a minor player with limited funding.
– OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to go public soon, potentially making hundreds of employees ultrawealthy, with some aligned to effective altruism and pledging large donations.
– Anthropic’s founders have pledged to donate 80% of their wealth, and the company will match employee donations up to a limit, potentially generating $15 billion yearly in philanthropy.
– Nonprofits are competing for donor attention by ramping up hiring, training, and marketing, though unsolicited pitches are seen as ineffective.
– ForHumanity’s Carrier and AI4ALL’s CEO are networking at events and seeking introductions to AI lab employees, aiming to secure funding from the anticipated IPO windfall.
A decade ago, Ryan Carrier was a struggling hedge fund manager witnessing AI systems spiral beyond control. Facebook’s algorithms destabilized US elections, a Microsoft chatbot falsely claimed the Holocaust was “made up,” and Tesla’s Autopilot caused its first fatal crash. “There was no governance, oversight, or accountability,” Carrier recalls. The AI-dominated future awaiting his children looked grim.
That same year, he founded ForHumanity, a nonprofit focused on developing tools to audit AI systems. Since 2016, it has raised only a few hundred thousand dollars and remains a minor industry player. But that dynamic could shift dramatically. ForHumanity is now one of many nonprofits worldwide striving to regulate AI, free animals from cages, eradicate poverty and disease, and advance democracy. These organizations are positioning themselves to capture what is expected to become the largest wave of philanthropy in decades.
Two nearly trillion-dollar AI companies,OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Anthropic, the maker of Claude,are anticipated to go public soon. That would make hundreds of current and former employees extraordinarily wealthy. Some of these potential billionaires subscribe to effective altruism, a philosophy that prioritizes making impactful donations sooner rather than later.
Anthropic’s seven founders have pledged to donate 80 percent of their wealth. The company has also agreed to match one or three shares for every one its employees commit to giving, depending on tenure and within certain limits.
Rough estimates from a tech industry insider suggest Anthropic’s IPO, potentially as soon as September, could generate $15 billion annually in new philanthropic giving. That alone would boost total US charitable donations by approximately 2.5 percent each year,equivalent to adding the giving power of four Bill Gateses, among the world’s top philanthropists. Anthropic declined to disclose the total amount employees have earmarked for donation or which organizations may benefit.
None of that money is guaranteed. IPOs may be delayed or perform poorly, leaving employees holding onto their wealth. Industry observers also worry that an overwhelming number of charitable options and natural indecisiveness could lead workers to keep more for themselves than expected.
But competition for donors’ attention is already intense. Jack Lewars, a consultant who advised 13 ultrarich tech and finance workers on charitable giving last year, says AI lab employees are receiving as many as 20 unsolicited emails a week from groups seeking donations.
WIRED spoke with 18 nonprofits and approached dozens more about how they are preparing for this potential philanthropy windfall. None admitted to sending cold pitches,a tactic Lewars, on his new blog The Funding Anthropalypse, wrote “has next to no chance of working.” Instead, organizations report ramping up hiring, training, marketing, and automation to attract massive funding and deploy it quickly. One job posting at an education nonprofit even explicitly prioritizes building relationships with Anthropic.
“Everybody’s going to go after these funds,” says Christine Peterson, cofounder of the grantmaking group Foresight Institute, which claims to have funding from Anthropic employees. “It’s going to be a wild ride.”
The Inside Track
Like many nonprofit leaders who spoke with WIRED, ForHumanity’s Carrier says he focuses more on the work than on fundraising. But he recognizes this may be a pivotal moment to shift gears. He has started wondering how to gain entry to IPO parties in San Francisco. “I just have to get in that room,” Carrier says.
Bo Young Lee, CEO of the nonprofit AI4ALL, says she is attending more events, publishing more research, and asking board members,including AI scientist and entrepreneur Fei-Fei Li,to introduce her to employees at the AI labs. Her organization trains young adults across the US to develop their own AI models, aiming to diversify the tech workforce. Lee says she is setting “ambitious” fundraising goals because she believes the money will come, even though introductory meetings have not yet materialized.
(Source: Wired)
