Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke Joins Anthropic's Long-Term Oversight Board

Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence company, announced the appointment of Professor Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, to its Long-Term Benefit Trust. This trust is designed to ensure the company remains committed to its public goals. Bernanke served as Fed chair from 2006 to 2014, succeeding Alan Greenspan, and led the central bank through the severe subprime mortgage crisis by implementing near-zero interest rates and quantitative easing. In 2022, Bernanke, along with Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig, received the Nobel Prize in Economics for their research on banking and financial crises.

Bernanke is the fourth member of Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust, joining Neil Baudy Shah, CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative; Richard Fontaine, a national security expert; and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, an international relations specialist appointed in January. The trustees operate independently from Anthropic’s management and investors, holding the authority to appoint and remove most board members. They do not own any Anthropic shares and are compensated for their time. Existing trustees select new members in consultation with the company.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers and executives, Anthropic is valued at approximately $965 billion and is preparing for a major initial public offering potentially within the year. Bernanke commented on his new role, stating, "The potential of artificial intelligence is enormous, as are the range of possible outcomes. How that potential is realized will depend, in part, on the institutions we build around it."