AI giant Anthropic unveils plans for blockbuster share listing

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Artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic has revealed details of its business ahead of its plans to sell shares to the public in what will likely be the largest stock market debut in history.

The company behind AI chatbot Claude revealed losses of more than $80.7bn (£60.5bn) in the first half of the year. It said it generated revenue of $16.3bn over the same period.

The number of shares to be released and their price range is yet to be determined.

Anthropic’s valuation when it goes public has been expected to exceed that of SpaceX, which this summer was the biggest-ever stock listing at an initial valuation of about $1.8 trillion.

Anthropic said it will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ANT. It will be the first true AI company to go public, marking a test for the future of the technology.

Tech companies have been heavily investing in costly AI infrastructure and tools, like data centres and the informational models that underly all AI technology, pouring more than $1tn into the efforts over the last year alone.

Anthropic, which was founded just five years ago by chief executive Dario Amodei, his sister Daniela Amodei and five other co-founders, announced its intention to go public in June.

Its most significant rival, OpenAI, quickly followed suit, saying it, too, intended to go public. That listing is now expected to occur early next year, according to a person familiar with OpenAI’s plans.

After the companies had decided on such plans, a wave of cyber-security and other types of technological breaches occurred involving their AI agents, or AI bots that are designed to operate somewhat autonomously.

Current and former staff of both companies also gained public attention with new warnings that AI technology was being developed without the ability to protect the whole of humanity from possible future harms enacted by AI tools.

In Anthropic’s new documents, it reiterated promises it has made in the past to develop AI in a way that is beneficial to people, while at the same time warning investors of its dangers.

Why are there concerns AI could threaten humanity, and how real are they?

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