Former Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke speaks during a discussion on “Perspectives on Monetary Policy” during the Thomas Laubach Research Conference at the Federal Reserve Board building in Washington, DC, May 19, 2023.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Anthropic on Thursday announced that it has appointed Ben Bernanke, the former chair of the Federal Reserve, to its Long-Term Benefit Trust, the company’s independent governance structure that advises the company and appoints its board members.
Bernanke served as Federal Reserve chairman from 2006 to 2014, having succeeded the late Alan Greenspan. Not long after taking office, he found himself in the middle of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression when the financial crisis hit in 2008. Part of his legacy was taking the Fed into the realm of zero interest rates and quantitative easing.
After leaving the Fed, he served in several capacities at organizations including the Brookings Institution, Citadel and Pimco. In 2022, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for research on Great Depression causes.
In his role as a member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust, Bernanke will help the company understand how AI is changing the economy, according to a blog post.
“Anthropic has created a unique governance structure to try to ensure that the long-run benefits of AI for humanity far outweigh the risks,” Bernanke said in a statement. “I am honored to have this opportunity, and I will try to contribute in any way I can to this critical mission.”
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a group of researchers and executives who defected from OpenAI. The company is valued at $965 billion, and it’s gearing up for a potentially massive IPO that could take place as soon as this year.
Bernanke is the fourth member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust, joining alongside Neil Buddy Shah, CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Richard Fontaine, a national security expert, and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, an international affairs expert who the company appointed in January.
Members of the trust do not hold any equity in Anthropic, and are paid exclusively for their time and service, Anthropic said. Existing trustees select new members in consultation with the company.
—CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report
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