On Monday, Anthropic, the company behind Claude, confidentially submitted paperwork that gets the gears moving towards going public, projected later this year. They did this before OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and their biggest competitor. Per Bloomberg, Anthropic recently surpassed OpenAI with a $965 billion projected valuation and, for the first time, are valued more than their ‘foe.’ Dario Amodei, the CEO of the soon-to-be public company, decided now was the perfect time to start the next chapter.
Does going public compromise the thing that made Anthropic different in the first place? Anthropic made it known they focus on building their product first and gaining profit second. They refused to implement ads, choosing to publicly shame OpenAI in the process for their implementation of the ads.
Anthropic’s ethics are part of the reason they gained this valuation in the first place. Going public shifts what they should be focusing on. It comes with shareholder pressure and financial benchmarks to hit and puts their whole business in the eye of the public, not just the government. Does this make them break their previous promise?
The overall timing of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) also can lead people to think this is a presise measure to control the AI market share. They just surpassed the leader in valuation, and Amodei decides to pull the trigger on an IPO. It shows a drive to control the market, which is not what their mission statement led us to believe.
Anthropic’s rise to fame. $ raised per series in blue on the left, valuation in red on the right.
In their defense, going public gives them the capital to actually win the AI safety race. But you can't help wondering if the pressure that comes with it quietly changes what winning means to them. What Anthropic does during the process of and after their IPO is something to take note of.
Will Dario and Anthropic stay true to their original values or choose to betray the thing that got them this far?