Anthropic named Harvard University physics and astronomy professor Christopher Stubbs to its Long-Term Benefit Trust on 21 October, The Harvard Crimson reported. The appointment puts him on the body that can choose a majority of the company’s board and advises its leadership on AI risks and their effects on society.
Key points
- Stubbs is the trust’s first physicist and fills one of its two vacant seats.
- The trust holds stock carrying rights to elect an increasing share of Anthropic’s board.
- The appointment follows Stubbs’ departure from a Harvard AI advisory role.
- Anthropic filed a draft registration statement in June, ahead of a widely expected IPO.
Stubbs takes a seat on Anthropic’s trust
Stubbs fills one of two vacancies and is the first physicist appointed to the trust, Fortune reported. Its other trustees are chair Neil Buddy Shah, Richard Fontaine of the Center for a New American Security, and former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, who joined in July.
The remaining vacancy dates to August, when Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar left the trust to become Anthropic’s first chief global affairs officer. Stubbs’ appointment changes who sits on a body with a direct role in board elections, rather than an advisory panel alone.
Anthropic is a public benefit corporation, which requires it to weigh its stated mission alongside shareholder returns. The trust’s special shares carry no financial value but entitle it to elect a growing proportion of Anthropic’s seven-person board, eventually a majority. Its trustees are independent of the company’s management and investors.
Stubbs leaves Harvard AI advisory post
Stubbs’ appointment follows his departure as senior adviser on generative AI to Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced on 1 October. In that role, he helped faculty and researchers gain access to AI models, including Anthropic’s Claude, and develop guidance on using them, The Harvard Crimson reported.
He remains on Harvard’s faculty and its Faculty of Arts and Sciences committee on generative AI. Harvard named astronomy and physics professor Douglas Finkbeiner, who spent the previous year on leave working with Anthropic, as his successor in the advisory role.
Stubbs was Harvard’s dean of science from 2018 to 2024 and is a member of JASON, a group of scientists that advises the US government on defence and technology. He has worked on research into the accelerating expansion of the universe and on the ESSENCE supernova cosmology project.
“I use AI tools in my research every day and see what they make possible,” Stubbs said in Anthropic’s announcement, according to The Harvard Crimson. He said his experience as an educator had also brought him into contact with difficult questions about the technology.
Anthropic’s June filing raises governance stakes
Anthropic confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June, Fortune reported. The company is widely expected to go public, potentially as soon as November, the publication said.
Reports suggest the IPO could value Anthropic at more than $2 trillion, according to Fortune. The company was valued at $965 billion in a funding round in May.
