SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An artificial intelligence company plans to invest $150 million in creating a fellowship initiative that will place trained coaches with nonprofit organizations across the nation to help them better utilize AI technology in their operations.
The program, called Claude Corps after the company’s well-known AI chatbot, will recruit and place 1,000 trained fellows with various organizations for one-year assignments. The company’s president told The Associated Press that Anthropic hopes this initiative will grow and become a cornerstone of its mission to help society benefit from AI while addressing potential dangers.
The president said Claude Corps will undergo evaluation following its initial year to determine whether it should continue and grow.
“We’re hoping it’s a good idea that can take root and that other people can build on and learn from, whether that’s public or private,” she said during an interview at Anthropic headquarters in San Francisco. “But I think my hope is that we’ll learn, the people who do it will learn, and we’ll be able to come back and do it again next time even better.”
Anthropic’s financial commitment covers compensation for Claude Corps participants and provides participating host organizations with $10,000 grants plus complimentary credits to access Claude.
Charitable giving is fundamental to how Anthropic’s founding team believes the business should operate, the president explained. She, along with her brother who serves as CEO, and the company’s five additional co-founders have committed to donating 80% of their personal wealth. They structured Anthropic as a public benefit corporation, a legal framework that allows for-profit businesses to pursue both financial success and social good.
Anthropic, currently valued at $965 billion, is preparing for a public stock offering, having recently submitted confidential paperwork for an initial public offering.
Speaking before the SEC filing became public, the president declined to discuss IPO timing but emphasized that the company’s principles are transparent to potential investors.
“There’s decisions and choices that we might make that might feel in conflict with just the pure commercial interests of the business and we’re going to be really open about that,” she explained. “I think we have been very well served by our inclination to just be very honest about who we are because people who like that really like us. And for people, if it’s not what they like, they don’t work with us. And I think that’s actually better for everyone.”
Anthropic has been vocal regarding dangers associated with this emerging technology. The company recently warned that businesses should coordinate pausing advanced AI development if humans risk losing control over self-improving systems. It worked with Pope Leo XIV during development of his AI encyclical addressing regulation needs. The company also engaged in a notable dispute with President Donald Trump’s administration after refusing to grant the U.S. military unrestricted access to its AI systems.
The president described Anthropic as “unusual” because its business operations and research divisions function independently.
“Sometimes research says things like ‘AI is doing bad things’ and we really want to be open about what those things are,” she noted. “Because I don’t think there’s a way for the broader community that is the world to adapt to these changes if we don’t understand the challenges.”
Bella DeVaan, who leads the Charity Reform Initiative at the progressive research organization the Institute of Policy Studies, expressed doubt that AI companies will voluntarily allocate sufficient profits to support everyone affected by AI implementation.
“The fox can’t guard the henhouse,” said DeVaan, who has researched wealthy individuals’ charitable contributions. “They can’t be responsible for their own regulation or for their own definition of what their altruistic mandate is. That has to be determined by the public.”
Similar to Pope Leo’s encyclical recommendations, DeVaan advocates for stronger government oversight of AI companies. Without official intervention, she fears AI could establish a permanent class of displaced workers. She believes governments must conduct independent research on AI’s potential benefits and risks rather than relying on AI companies’ findings.
Anthropic separately announced Wednesday it will contribute $200 million toward an economic framework supporting workers displaced by AI technology. This effort begins with funding research into problems created by AI adoption.
“We can’t understand what the societal disruption might look like if we don’t study it, publish it and talk about it,” the president stated.
For Claude Corps development, Anthropic collaborated with CodePath, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on helping first-generation and low-income students enter technology careers through educational programs and career assistance.
CodePath’s CEO said he had long considered redesigning AmeriCorps to address AI adoption. The federal volunteer service agency experienced significant funding cuts under Trump administration policies last year.
“I think we need programs that are meeting folks where they are when you’re looking at the traditional late adopters — from nonprofits to governments, to schools,” he explained. “We’re putting humans into the organizations that serve the majority of Americans as a way to bring them along and bring our communities along.”
He said CodePath will oversee the program, which accepts fellowship applications until July 17. The CEO noted the fellowship targets diverse young professionals early in their careers.
“We are intentionally trying to be extremely accessible,” he said. “We’re not requiring that you have a certain degree. We want the initial group of fellows to be representative of a broad section of the population in this country.”
Jennifer Blatz, who leads StriveTogether, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit network preparing young people for improved economic opportunities, expressed excitement that her organization was selected to host two Claude Corps fellows.
While her nonprofit currently uses AI for analyzing program impact data, she hopes Claude Corps can help standardize AI implementation across her organization and its network covering 27 states. Blatz wants both her network and the communities they serve to understand “AI is a tool – not the whole strategy.”
“AI can help us work smarter, but trust building and community collaboration, that’s a deeply human part of the work,” she said. “And that’s not going away just because we use this tool.”
