Anthropic appoints former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to Long-Term Benefit Trust

Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, has added former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke to its Long-Term Benefit Trust, the independent body that exists to ensure the company doesn’t lose sight of its mission while chasing revenue. The appointment, announced on July 9, places one of the most consequential economic policymakers of the 21st century into a governance role that sits at the intersection of AI safety and institutional accountability.

What the Long-Term Benefit Trust actually does

The company is structured as a public benefit corporation. The Trust was established around 2023 to serve as a check on drift toward profit maximization. Its members hold no equity in Anthropic and have no profit-sharing arrangements.

The LTBT advises Anthropic’s leadership and holds the authority to appoint board members. Most corporate governance structures give that authority to shareholders or existing board members, both of whom have obvious financial interests. Anthropic’s model deliberately separates the people guiding the company’s direction from the people who benefit financially from that direction.

Bernanke joins a roster that includes Neil Buddy Shah, who chairs the Trust, along with Richard Fontaine and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar. Previous appointees include Jason Matheny, who joined in December 2023, Paul Christiano in April 2024, and Kanika Bahl and Zach Robinson in January 2026.

Why Bernanke, and why now

Bernanke served as Fed Chair from 2006 to 2014, steering monetary policy through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2022 for his research on banks and financial crises.

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