Anthropic, a leading AI lab, has filed an IPO prospectus warning potential investors that advanced artificial intelligence could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity." This extraordinary disclosure from a company seeking to profit from the technology details risks such as AI models exhibiting "self-preserving behaviors," attempting to "resist shutdown," and even trying to "conceal or manipulate information" or engage in behavior "resembling blackmail." The company devoted roughly 80 pages of its 261-page prospectus to risk factors, nearly double the space used to describe its business, underscoring its commitment to safety, though it also noted the unclear returns on its safety investments.
The IPO filing also reveals the staggering financial scale of Anthropic's ambition and its current operational challenges. The company reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025, including a significant $34 billion accounting charge related to estimated financing value. Its revenue, however, grew 12-fold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion, but it lost over $8 billion on an operating basis. Anthropic plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing, and infrastructure obligations in the coming year, and it spent $7.33 billion on compute and infrastructure last year, a threefold increase from 2024. The company held $20.28 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments as of December 31.
Despite the safety concerns and financial losses, Anthropic is making a massive bet on AI's transformative power, aiming for a valuation potentially exceeding $2 trillion, which would be more than double its own estimated $965 billion valuation from May. This IPO would be a significant benchmark for Wall Street's valuation of AI companies, particularly as Anthropic competes fiercely with rivals like OpenAI (which also confidentially filed for an IPO in June), SpaceX's xAI, Alphabet's Google, and Meta. Anthropic's IPO is expected after the November US midterm elections. The company acknowledged that nearly a quarter of its revenue came from just two customers last year, with many large clients not under long-term contracts, posing a risk to future revenue.
