Anthropic preps for initial public stock offering in major step for AI company

Anthropic, the company that makes the AI chatbot Claude, filed paperwork on Monday to prepare for a possible initial public offering (IPO). This is a major step toward allowing people to buy and sell shares of the company on the public stock market.

The move had been expected for a long time. It comes months after Anthropic said it had privately sent a draft registration document, known as Form S-1, to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The paperwork filed on Monday describes AI as “one of the most consequential technologies in human history.” It says that, if handled well, AI could quickly speed up scientific discoveries, greatly boost economic growth, help bring cures for major diseases within reach, and solve problems that people have struggled with for generations.

At the same time, the filing warns that building AI means using the power of thinking itself, and something so powerful can be used for good or harm. It says people who want to cause harm could misuse AI. AI systems might also act on their own in ways that their creators and users did not intend, as shown by recent, widely reported cybersecurity incidents. The filing warns that losing control of powerful enough AI systems could pose a major threat to global security.

“We consider it our personal responsibility to help the world understand these risks, to prevent or reduce them when they come from our AI models, and to work with governments and the rest of the industry to address them at a societal level,” the filing says.

Public concern about the possible dangers of AI has grown in recent months. This is partly because Anthropic has reported security incidents involving AI and because a researcher at the company resigned in a high-profile case.

In July, Anthropic said it had reviewed more than 140,000 tests of its AI models and found three separate cases in which the models carried out cyberattacks against other organizations on their own.

Other AI companies, including OpenAI, have also reported security incidents involving AI in recent months.

Last month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei announced that the company would slow AI development as a precaution to make sure risks were properly addressed. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also said last month he would slow down the pace of his company's AI development.

Anthropic's filing said the company earned $16.3 billion in revenue during the first six months of this year. That was nearly 14 times the $1.2 billion it earned during the same period a year earlier.

However, the company also reported a net loss of $80.7 billion during the first six months of this year, showing how much it spent during that period.

This story is still developing. Please check back for updates.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to make it clearer.

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