---
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
aliases:
  - "Anthropic Long-Term Benefit Trust"
  - "LTBT"
tags:
  - Organization
  - Anthropic
  - Governance
  - EffectiveAltruism
summary: "Body of financially disinterested trustees empowered to elect a growing share of Anthropic's board, founded in 2023 with trustees from RAND, Effective Ventures and the AI-safety world; a board majority from 2026."
start: 2023-09-19
relations:
  - type: head_of
    with: "[[Neil Buddy Shah]]"
    reverse: true
    role: "chair"
    start: 2023-09
    fn: 1
  - type: member_of
    with: "[[Jason Matheny]]"
    reverse: true
    start: 2023-09
    end: 2023-12
    fn: 1
  - type: member_of
    with: "[[Zach Robinson]]"
    reverse: true
    start: 2023-09
    end: 2026-01
    fn: 1
  - type: member_of
    with: "[[Richard Fontaine]]"
    reverse: true
    start: 2025-05
    fn: 1
  - type: member_of
    with: "[[Ben Bernanke]]"
    reverse: true
    start: 2026-07
    fn: 1
created: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-23
---

The Long-Term Benefit Trust is the governance body of [[Anthropic]], announced on September 19, 2023, as "an independent body of five financially disinterested members with an authority to select and remove a portion of our Board that will grow over time (ultimately, a majority of our Board)." An earlier version, the "Long-Term Benefit Committee," had been written into the Series A investment documents of 2021. The structure was designed with [[John Morley]] of [[Yale Law School]], lawyers from [[Wilson Sonsini]], and [[Noah Feldman]] and [[Seth Berman]] of [[Harvard Law School]] and [[Ethical Compass Advisors]].[^1]

### Trustees

The initial trustees were [[Jason Matheny]], chief executive of the [[RAND Corporation]]; [[Kanika Bahl]], chief executive of [[Evidence Action]]; [[Neil Buddy Shah]], chief executive of the [[Clinton Health Access Initiative]], as chair; [[Paul Christiano]], founder of the [[Alignment Research Center]]; and [[Zach Robinson]], interim chief executive of [[Effective Ventures]] US. Matheny stepped down in December 2023 "to preempt any potential conflicts of interest that might arise with RAND Corporation's policy-related initiatives," and Christiano in April 2024 to become head of AI safety at the U.S. [[AI Safety Institute]]. [[Richard Fontaine]], chief executive of the [[Center for a New American Security]], joined in May 2025; [[Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar]], president of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]], in January 2026, when Bahl and Robinson left; and [[Ben Bernanke]], former chairman of the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]], in July 2026.[^1] Fontaine also sat on Anthropic's [[Anthropic National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council|National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council]].[^2]

### The Board

In April 2026 the trust appointed [[Vas Narasimhan]], chief executive of [[Novartis]], to Anthropic's board, and with his appointment "Trust-appointed directors now make up a majority of the Board."[^3]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Anthropic, "The Long-Term Benefit Trust," September 19, 2023, with later updates on changes in the trust's composition. https://www.anthropic.com/news/the-long-term-benefit-trust
[^2]: Anthropic, "Introducing the Anthropic National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council," August 27, 2025. https://www.anthropic.com/news/introducing-the-anthropic-national-security-and-public-sector-advisory-council
[^3]: Anthropic, "Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust appoints Vas Narasimhan to Board of Directors," April 14, 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/narasimhan-board