NYC comptroller urged Anthropic to pause its IPO over AI safety concerns

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine called on Anthropic to pause its initial public offering until the company addresses risks tied to AI safety, governance and the pace of development, according to Bloomberg.

Levine made the request in a letter to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Wednesday. His office is responsible for the city's financial well-being and manages public pension funds holding assets exceeding $325 billion.

Levine discussed the letter and his call to postpone the offering on the "Squawk Box" program on Thursday, according to CNBC.

Levine wrote that the "morally binding accord" on AI safety between the Trump administration and AI companies, Anthropic among them, was insufficient. He called on Anthropic to put in place a governance framework commensurate with the concerns that the company and others, including industry researchers, have flagged.

"Anthropic should disclose with specificity how it will implement appropriate audits and controls, the scope of what these controls are intended to address, as well as a projected timeline," Levine wrote, according to Bloomberg.

"This should also include an explanation of whether and how these controls will sufficiently address your call to slow the pace at which the capabilities of AI models advance," he continued, according to Bloomberg.

Anthropic had not responded to Bloomberg's request for comment at the time of its report.

Anthropic told prospective investors on Wednesday that its third-quarter revenue reached $16.8 billion and that it was profitable on an adjusted basis. The company is targeting the week of Nov. 9 to start its IPO roadshow, with year-end as the outer limit for the debut, though nothing is finalized. It is aiming for an offering at least as large as SpaceX's June IPO.

The call to slow AI development that Levine cited came from Amodei, who urged AI companies last month to dial back the rate at which they advance their most powerful models and pressed for greater regulatory involvement from Washington. On Sept. 29, executives from Anthropic and other firms met with President Donald Trump on AI safety. The meeting produced a voluntary, nonbinding agreement stating that every company is responsible for developing its own technology safely.