Source: Substack
OpenAI and Anthropic's recent valuations suggest founders and major donors—many of whom hold stakes through charitable vehicles like the Open Philanthropy board seat or donor-advised funds—are sitting on substantial paper gains that will eventually convert to liquid capital. This matters because it shifts who controls deployment of AI-era wealth: when these stakes mature through IPOs, acquisitions, or secondary sales, a new class of tech philanthropists will have resources exceeding traditional foundations, capable of redirecting entire sectors toward AI safety, biosecurity, or other EA-aligned causes. The timing isn't imminent, but it alters the long-term capital distribution of the AI boom away from Silicon Valley's typical venture hierarchy.