Anthropic is expected to beat rival OpenAI to the public markets with a major initial public offering later this year, despite renewed concerns over the safety of advanced artificial intelligence.
The concerns intensified this month after Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon resigned, warning that the industry was “gambling with our lives”.
Coxon, who previously worked at OpenAI, left last week amid support from former colleagues. One of them also raised concerns about the small possibility that AI could cause humanity’s extinction.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the pace of AI development to slow last weekend, although he did not comment on the company’s IPO plans.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the pace of AI development to slow last weekend, although he did not comment on the company’s IPO plans.
The safety debate comes as both Anthropic and OpenAI prepare for highly anticipated listings.
US companies planning to go public must disclose known business risks to investors before an IPO. Anthropic could submit its filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission as early as this month.
It remains unclear whether, or how, the companies will address theoretical doomsday scenarios in their filings.
“Are we to believe that there is something that’s extremely dangerous that’s hiding inside this company because this person that quit said it, and then it was amplified by a bunch of people” who still work there, All-In podcast co-host Chamath Palihapitiya said last week.
“If it’s true… (investors) will demand an enormous discount,” said Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist.
Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital and a shareholder in both OpenAI and Anthropic, has played down the concerns, arguing that an IPO would bring greater transparency for investors.
“Anthropic will IPO. The market knows how to price risk – see SpaceX,” Gerstner posted on X.
SpaceX raised a record $85 billion in its June IPO, but its stock has since lost around a quarter of its value after reaching a peak of about $202 a share.
“There is huge appetite to invest in the AI leaders,” Gerstner added.
Anthropic’s IPO could also set the tone for OpenAI’s debut next year.
The stakes extend beyond the two companies, with technology giants including Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Nvidia holding significant stakes in the AI labs.
More broadly, the US economy is becoming increasingly tied to the expansion of AI, meaning the performance of these IPOs could have implications beyond the companies themselves.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said this weekend that the company would delay its IPO until 2027, citing safety concerns and describing the current timing as an “ill-advised moment”.
Before the latest AI safety headlines, Altman and other OpenAI executives had already indicated that the company was in no hurry to go public this year.
The ChatGPT maker is nevertheless continuing its fundraising efforts.
OpenAI is in talks with investors about raising a new round of funding at a valuation of at least $1.2 trillion before going public, while Anthropic could seek a $2 trillion valuation in an IPO that could happen as early as October, according to various reports.
Media reports have also indicated that OpenAI executives are concerned about investor uncertainty, broader market conditions and SpaceX’s weaker stock performance.
Both companies are also weighing proposals to slow AI development following recent incidents involving AI technology behaving unexpectedly.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar rejected the idea that slowing the release of state-of-the-art technology would affect the company’s core business and revenue growth.
“Even if we stop today, the amount of intelligence that’s available in the world is massive,” Friar told CNBC on Tuesday.
Anthropic has also pushed back against the idea that its focus on safety could undermine its IPO.
“I would say safety has been the core of who we are from the very beginning,” Sarah Heck, Anthropic’s head of policy, said at a Politico conference on Wednesday.
“Our investors know that. Our customers know that.”
