> you can't rely on a for-profit corporation to operate in any other manner than optimizing shareholder value.

I would like to understand where this breaks down. Would a for-profit individual be more reliable? Would a non-profit? At which point does quality deteriorate?

I think Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) are a way to try and solve that problem.

I recently switched to Kagi and their Orion browser, and that's when I learned about PBCs.

A PBC legally takes a triple mandate, the first is just as any for-profit corp, to maximize shareholder value, the second is to the benefit of the stakeholders, and the last can be anything they write down when they register as a PBC. The Delaware law says:

> The board of directors shall manage or direct the business and affairs of the public benefit corporation in a manner that balances the stockholders’ pecuniary interests, the best interests of those materially affected by the corporation’s conduct, and the specific public benefit or public benefits identified in its certificate of incorporation.

If they fail at any of these mandates, you can sue them.

That means they are still for-profit, but also can't decide to favor profit over their other mandate or change their mind. Their other mandate being stakeholders interests, like users, as well as the explicitly stated benefit. For Kagi, that benefit is:

> Kagi is committed to creating a more human-centric and sustainable web that benefits individuals, communities, and society as a whole, with a transparent business model that aligns the incentives of everyone involved.

Now it's not all roses, Anthropic I learned is another PBC. Their benefit is:

> the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity

Which is quite vague, and can be taken in many directions.

But overall, it's much better than normal corporations, because here they are legally obligated to care about stockholder, stakeholder, and some additionally specific "public benefit".