NYC Comptroller Levine urges Anthropic to pause US IPO

Oct 15 : Anthropic should delay its US IPO until it addresses concerns about safety, governance and the pace of development, urged New York City Comptroller Mark Levine in a letter to the AI lab's CEO Dario Amodei.

AI systems have advanced rapidly over the past 12 months, outpacing regulation and drawing scrutiny over potential risks, including safety, cybersecurity threats and misuse.

"Instead of proceeding headlong with its IPO, the company should focus its energies on addressing these unprecedented risks," Levine wrote in the letter seen by Reuters on Thursday.

NYC's public pension funds have a combined $7 million in exposure to Anthropic through private equity holdings, the comptroller's office told Reuters.

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Anthropic, which is reportedly targeting a $2 trillion valuation in the listing, did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Anthropic's own research has highlighted the risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI models, which have demonstrated potentially harmful capabilities in controlled tests, including sabotaging code, facilitating fraud and manipulating information.

Earlier this week, in a pre-IPO meeting, Anthropic ​told prospective investors that revenue in the third quarter surged 45 per cent from the prior quarter, Reuters reported, citing sources. Its closest rival, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, is expected to list in 2027.

New York City's comptroller oversees the city's finances, manages its pension funds and acts as a watchdog over public spending and financial practices. The funds have over $325 billion in assets.

The contents of the letter were first reported by CNBC, earlier on Thursday.