Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) developer behind the chatbot Claude, has disclosed documents preparing for its first public stock offering in the U.S. The company warns that advanced AI could pose severe risks to humanity. While revenues are growing rapidly, the firm still faces profit uncertainties, enormous processing costs, and conflicts with the administration of President Donald Trump.
Anthropic, a leading global AI developer, has filed documents for its initial public offering (IPO), outlining both its business growth prospects and major risks associated with AI technology that could severely impact society and humanity.
This IPO will be a crucial test case for companies focused on AI development, as the industry attracts massive investment but questions remain whether rapid growth can translate into sustainable profits.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Anthropic aims to go public the week of 16 November 2023, though the schedule may change. The offering could raise up to $100 billion, potentially valuing the company between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion. However, the company has not disclosed the number of shares, offering price, or exact listing date, stating it will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol ANT.
In a roughly 400-page filing, the company devotes over 90 pages to describing risks linked to its AI business, warning that advanced AI systems could pose existential threats to humanity without proper safeguards, regulation, and security measures—especially if the technology is misused, replicated, weaponized, or given excessive autonomy.
Anthropic also warns that its stance on AI oversight and safety could invite increased scrutiny, political backlash, or disproportionate regulation. The company is currently in conflict with the Trump administration after refusing to lift certain restrictions on Department of Defense use of its technology. Subsequently, the government labeled Anthropic a national security risk and banned it from supplying technology in some cases.
Despite these risks, Anthropic’s business is growing rapidly. The filing shows revenues for the April-June quarter rose to $11.6 billion from $787 million the previous year’s quarter, compared to $4.6 billion projected for the full 2025 fiscal year.
The company reported nearly $1 billion in operating profit for that quarter—the first time achieving this—but still recorded a total loss exceeding $80 billion in the first half of 2026, mostly due to accounting items related to increased company valuation rather than direct cash outflows.
Most growth comes from business customers using Claude for software development and office tasks. Nearly 12,000 organizations now spend at least $100,000 annually with Anthropic, up from fewer than 1,000 a year earlier. However, the company warns growth may slow significantly, and investors will watch third-quarter results closely ahead of the IPO.
A major challenge is processing costs. Anthropic has contracts worth hundreds of billions with cloud and computing infrastructure providers, including a maximum commitment of about $120.5 billion to SpaceX, roughly $110 billion to Amazon, and around $125 to $150 billion to Google.
The company warns that if AI demand is below expectations, it may still be required to pay these contractual amounts even without full utilization. It also relies on a limited number of cloud providers, chip manufacturers in Taiwan facing high demand, and data centers concentrated in the U.S.
Regarding governance, Anthropic states that its seven co-founders, led by CEO Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei as chairwoman, will retain combined voting control exceeding 50% after the IPO, preventing outside investors from overruling founders’ decisions.
Anthropic is registered as a public-benefit corporation, requiring it to balance safe AI development goals with shareholder returns. The co-founders have pledged to donate 80% of their shares to charity, although the filing notes this commitment is not legally binding.
Founded about five years ago, the company is preparing to go public ahead of major competitor OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT, which reportedly delayed its IPO to early next year. Anthropic also faces legal claims from Elvis Presley’s music rights holders, alleging it used hundreds of his songs to train Claude.
While emphasizing risks, Anthropic highlights AI’s potential to transform work across fields, accelerate advances in biology and medicine, possibly discover cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's, and boost productivity and economic growth.
Matt Orton, chief market strategist at Raymond James investment management, said investors already expect rapid growth and significant losses. The filing data will help markets better assess revenue sources and business outlook.
Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management, views Anthropic’s IPO plan as a milestone for AI development, with investor response reflecting market confidence in future technology investments.