Anthropic files for potentially the biggest IPO ever as CEO warns of risk to humanity from AI

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Anthropic, a major artificial intelligence company, filed paperwork on Monday for what could become the biggest stock market launch ever. At the same time, its chief executive is warning that advanced AI could pose an existential threat to humanity, meaning a danger that could threaten the future of human life.

The filing prepares the San Francisco company to begin selling shares on Wall Street as soon as next month. It could beat the current record of $86 billion raised by SpaceX when it first sold shares to the public in June. Anthropic could also go public before OpenAI, setting up two huge stock market launches by rival AI companies.

Selling shares to the public for the first time, a process known as an initial public offering, or IPO, could give Anthropic a huge amount of money to grow faster. It is not yet clear how much money the company will raise, what it will be worth or what price its shares will sell for. Even at lower estimates, the five-year-old startup could become one of the world's most valuable companies. Its leaders, CEO Dario Amodei and his sister and co-founder Daniela, could also see their personal wealth grow by billions of dollars.

The 335-page filing shows that Anthropic's revenue is growing quickly. It earned more than $16 billion in the first half of this year, 14 times as much as it earned during the same period last year. But, like many technology companies that go public, the company behind the Claude chatbot has not yet made a profit.

Private investors valued Anthropic at $965 billion earlier this year. Reports say its value could rise to $1.5 trillion or even $2 trillion, but its final value has not been set. If it is worth $1.5 trillion, Anthropic would rank among the world's most valuable publicly traded companies, alongside Tesla.

Reports say Anthropic could raise as much as $100 billion from its stock offering, which would beat the record set by SpaceX.

Anthropic said in its filing with regulators that its shares will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the stock symbol "ANT."

The company plans to go public in an unsettled market

Anthropic said it may use some of the money it raises to buy other companies and technology. It also plans to invest in the computer systems and other equipment it needs to grow and compete with rivals.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former leaders of OpenAI. The two companies are competing to become leaders in AI, but they face many other rivals, including Google, newer startups in the United States and China, and SpaceX, which also has an AI business. Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX's AI division have all been spending more money than they earn. Building AI systems costs huge amounts of money, raising fears that the industry may be in a bubble, with company values growing beyond what their businesses can support.

The need for more money may explain why Anthropic is trying to enter the stock market this year instead of waiting until next year, as OpenAI plans to do. The company may also be worried that demand for AI stocks could fall sharply or even collapse. Investors are concerned about how much money AI companies need, and several technology companies have recently dropped their plans to go public.

David Hsu, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said he sees the filing mainly as a way for Anthropic to get money from a wider range of sources.

“Obviously, they feel great, or at least good enough, on the safety aspects relative to OpenAI, and so that puts them in a position to really stay on track now to go public (first),” Hsu said.

The IPO could help Anthropic cover any shortage of cash and make its seven founders extremely wealthy. They include Dario Amodei and his sister. The filing does not directly state how much of the company each founder owns. However, other figures in the document suggest that each founder will own about 1.4% of the company. If Anthropic goes public at the highest expected value, each stake could be worth as much as $28 billion.

Many risks, but a huge possible payoff for the founders

Dario Amodei, 43, and Daniela Amodei, 39, who is Anthropic's president, are already worth $15.5 billion each, according to Forbes. The magazine ranks them as the 176th- and 177th-richest people in the world.

Anthropic reported a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026. However, this figure includes a one-time accounting charge of $72.4 billion linked to financing agreements. The charge came from an adjustment in how the company records these agreements, according to the filing. During the same period last year, Anthropic lost $13 billion.

The filing includes some unusual rules. One gives Amodei and his sister, along with the company's five other co-founders, 50.1% of all shareholder voting power through a special type of share. Anthropic has also appointed independent members to a group called the Long-Term Benefit Trust. These members do not have a financial interest in the company and have the power to appoint directors. The trust is meant to help ensure that the company does not put profits ahead of public safety.

Another unusual part of the filing is its long list of "risk factors." Every company that goes public must explain its risks, but Anthropic's list is nearly 100 pages long and includes some striking warnings.

Some risks are common business problems, such as losing important employees or facing delays and difficulties because of government rules. Others are much more serious. These include terrifying dangers, such as people using AI systems to make chemical weapons, authoritarian leaders using the technology to control their citizens, and AI systems acting outside human control and creating "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity."

Calls to slow down AI development

Anthropic and other leading AI companies have said the technology could help cure diseases and speed up economic growth. But AI could also cause major changes in the workplace by reducing the need for human workers.

A series of hacking incidents involving AI agents that acted without proper control has also raised fears that these systems could escape human oversight and carry out dangerous tasks that threaten lives.

In September, Amodei said the AI industry should slow the rapid development of AI so that safety measures have time to catch up. He warned that without a slowdown, AI could soon be able to release large groups of AI agents that might take control of the entire internet within six to 12 months.

Amodei shared a plan in a post on his website that calls for stronger checks on the AI industry. He said Anthropic is already carrying out some of these steps on its own. Other measures, however, would require companies to work together and cooperate with governments around the world, including governments run by authoritarian leaders.

Disputes with the U.S. government

Anthropic has tried to stand apart from other AI companies by presenting itself as a company that puts safety and responsible development first, rather than trying to grow at any cost. This approach is part of the reason for its dispute with the U.S. government. The conflict began in February, when the Trump administration accused Anthropic of putting national security at risk and labeled the company a supply chain risk.

In March, Anthropic sued the Pentagon. The company called the government's actions an "unlawful campaign of retaliation" because Anthropic had refused to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. The lawsuit made the disagreement over the use of AI in warfare and mass surveillance more intense.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, agreed to work with the Pentagon just hours after the government punished Anthropic for its position. Anthropic also filed a separate, narrower lawsuit over another rule the Pentagon is using in its effort to label the company a supply chain risk.

A judge in California ruled in Anthropic's favor in the first case. In the second case, a judge in Washington, D.C., ruled in favor of the government. Both sides are appealing the decisions.

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Bernard Condon reported from New York. Associated Press writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed from Los Angeles.

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