Anthropic's long-awaited filing for what is expected to be the most highly valued initial public offering of all time carries an unusual warning for prospective investors: increasingly advanced AI models could manipulate, blackmail, or behave in other unpredictable ways, and runaway AI could end humanity within a decade. The nearly $1 trillion start-up, led by chief executive Dario Amodei, devoted almost a third of its S-1 to risk factors. The disclosure complicates the job of public market investors trying to value the leading US AI group when it lists on the Nasdaq this autumn.
The Claude maker also gave investors a clearer view of the costs of building state-of-the-art models. Anthropic said it plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing, and infrastructure obligations in the coming years to support its rapid growth. Close to a quarter of revenue last year came from just two clients, according to people familiar with the filing. The company recorded an operating loss of more than $8 billion last year as computing spending rose, with revenue jumping 12-fold to almost $4.6 billion while operating expenses reached almost $13 billion. It has secured computing power through deals with partners including Google, SpaceX, and several smaller companies.
Backers are confident Anthropic can list at a valuation above $2 trillion, more than double its last funding round in May and beyond the $1.78 trillion reached by Elon Musk's SpaceX in June, pointing to its growth rate. Growth has continued sharply this year: second-quarter revenue was $11.5 billion, and the company is on course for a second consecutive quarter of operating profit on an adjusted basis. The figures were first reported by Reuters and confirmed to the FT by multiple people who have seen the filing.
Concerns about AI risk now threaten to temper that optimism. Current and former Anthropic staff have issued public warnings that runaway AI could end humanity within a decade, and Amodei told the UN Security Council last week that AI could threaten humankind and was the most important global security issue facing the world today. This month he has led public calls for pacing the frontier of AI development. His rival at OpenAI, Sam Altman, along with Musk, backed Amodei's proposals for industry cooperation to slow development and enhance safety measures, a rare moment of unity.
Safety concerns have mounted after a series of high-profile cyber security incidents in which AI agents breached external systems. Last week, OpenAI revealed its tools had hacked dozens of external sites, including governments. On Monday, the ChatGPT maker scrapped plans to release its newest model next month, citing safety concerns.
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