Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke Joins Anthropic's AI Oversight Board

In brief

Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke joined Anthropic’s AI oversight board, which helps guide the company’s long-term strategy.

The 2008 financial crisis veteran will advise on AI’s economic and societal impacts.

Bernanke joins the board as investors debate whether surging AI valuations resemble past market bubbles.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who led the U.S. central bank through the 2008 global financial crisis, has joined Anthropic’s independent oversight body, the AI giant announced Thursday.

The Anthropic Long-Term Benefit Trust is supposed to ensure the company develops advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. It has the power to appoint Anthropic board members, and advises the board and company leadership on decisions related to AI’s societal impact.

Bernanke is now one of four members of the Trust. He joins social entrepreneur Neil Buddy Shah, Richard Fontaine, a former national security official in the George W. Bush administration, and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, a former intelligence advisor to President Joe Biden.

Anthropic said Bernanke's experience studying financial crises and steering the U.S. economy through one of its most turbulent periods would help the company assess AI's effects on workforces and the broader economy.

“The potential of artificial intelligence is enormous, and so is the range of outcomes,” Bernanke said in a statement. “How that potential plays out will depend, in part, on the institutions we build around it.”

Bernanke's appointment comes as some investors and economists warn that the flood of capital pouring into artificial intelligence resembles the speculative excess of past market booms. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said earlier this year the chipmaker is likely finished making major investments in OpenAI and Anthropic as both companies move closer to potential public listings, amid broader debate over whether AI valuations have reached bubble territory.

The announcement also follows a turbulent stretch for Anthropic's relationship with the Trump administration. Last month, the Commerce Department temporarily subjected the company's newest AI models to export controls, before reversing course after Anthropic introduced additional safeguards and reached an understanding with U.S. officials.

Bernanke remains a polarizing figure in financial history. As Fed chair from 2006 to 2014, he oversaw America’s central bank as the U.S. housing market collapsed and the ensuing financial crisis pushed the global economy into its worst downturn since the Great Depression.

While some economists credit his interventions with helping avert an even more severe collapse, critics argue regulators failed to recognize mounting risks before the crisis—and have long questioned decisions made during its aftermath, including the failure of Lehman Brothers.

Bernanke was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on banks and financial crises.