Risks spelled out for Anthropic investors include possible harms from runaway AI

Any time a company plans to sell shares to the public on Wall Street, it must tell investors about possible risks. For the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, those risks include the possibility that its products could threaten humanity itself.

In a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the San Francisco company listed several risks. These included the possibility that criminals could use AI models to create deadly weapons, or that the technology could act on its own in ways that cause serious and unpredictable harm.

Of the 335 pages in Anthropic's filing, which covers its finances, executive pay, dividend policy and other matters, 93 pages discuss risks that could hurt investors. By comparison, rival SpaceX listed its risks on 38 pages out of a document that was more than 250 pages long.

Anthropic presents its planned initial public offering, or IPO, as a step toward reducing the dangers it believes AI could pose.

“To build AI is to harness cognition itself, and anything so powerful can be used for ill as well as good,” the company's founders wrote in a letter to potential shareholders in the IPO filing. “Anthropic is a deeply values-driven organization, founded in large part to help the world realize AI’s benefits and avoid its dangers.”

Still, Anthropic faces many risks. Some are ordinary business problems, such as losing important employees or running into regulatory obstacles. Others include being involved in cyberattacks and the spread of dangerous false information.

Here are some of the risks Anthropic describes.

AI technology is developing quickly

Anthropic said its AI models might improve so quickly that the company could struggle to put proper safety measures in place. This “could increase the likelihood of safety incidents, regulatory intervention, or reputational harm, and could adversely affect our business.”

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned in September that within six to 12 months, AI might be able to lead a group of AI agents that could take over the entire internet. His warning, along with Anthropic's move to sell shares, comes as concern grows both inside and outside the industry about increasingly powerful AI systems. These systems can solve problems beyond human ability, but they might also act on their own to carry out harmful tasks.

As AI systems “become more autonomous and capable of taking consequential actions with less human oversight,” the company's SEC filing said, they could “take harmful actions independently and at scale without human intervention.”

Anthropic also warned that even if its own models do not cause harm, a major safety incident involving any leading AI system could damage the reputation of the whole AI industry, lead to public anger and bring wide-ranging new rules that could hurt its business.

Anthropic's AI models are now helping with the company's own research and development. The filing said AI could therefore advance “beyond our ability to evaluate and safeguard new models.” The company warned that this could hurt its business.

People with harmful intentions could misuse AI

The filing warned that advanced AI systems could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity” if they are not built and operated with enough safety measures and human oversight. The danger could be especially serious if the systems were misused, copied, turned into weapons or allowed to act with a high level of independence.

The company said its business could suffer if criminals use its models to cause harm or if its safety rules and protections fail to stop that misuse.

Anthropic described the possibility that criminals could use AI models to create chemical weapons, or that authoritarian leaders could use the technology to control and punish their citizens. In September, the company said it had blocked attempts to use its AI models for harmful activities, including cyberattacks, surveillance and research that could have helped develop biological weapons.

The company could face limits on computing power

Computing power, also called compute, means the computer resources needed to build, test and improve AI models. These resources are expensive and in high demand. Anthropic said that if it cannot get enough computing power, or fails to use those resources effectively, it might not be able to train models that can compete with its rivals or serve its customers well.

Anthropic also listed public opposition to data centers as a business risk. Building data centers has led to public debate and closer attention from regulators because of concerns about environmental damage, land and water use, and how limited electricity supplies are shared. The filing said new rules or fees introduced in response to these concerns could make it harder for the company to operate.

The company also depends on a small number of customers, including SpaceX and Microsoft, as well as a limited number of ways to distribute its products, for much of its income. Anthropic said its business and financial outlook could suffer if even one major customer cuts back its purchases or stops working with the company altogether.

Reducing the risks

In some ways, AI's enormous risks and enormous potential are central to Anthropic's appeal to investors. The company has tried to present itself as a responsible AI developer and attract business customers by stressing its focus on safety.

“We believe that frontier AI companies must invest in safety and alignment to help ensure the responsible diffusion of this technology,” the filing said.

Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Research, said companies preparing to sell shares to the public must explain the risks of investing very clearly.

“That’s one of the things that’s great about our capital markets here domestically is the level of transparency that you must commit to, to be a publicly traded corporation on a U.S. exchange requires you to outline those risks in a very clear way, so that people understand if they want to participate by offering their hard-earned money and help finance this type of a deal,” he said.

AP Business Writer Bernard Condon and AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this story.

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