On the eve of its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), the artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic has informed some investors that it will achieve positive adjusted operating profits for the second consecutive quarter, aiming to alleviate concerns about its high research and development expenditures. However, this news comes at a time when controversies over AI industry safety have been escalating, with calls from various sectors to strengthen regulation.
According to sources cited by the Financial Times, Anthropic has disclosed to a small group of shareholders that its adjusted operating profits will turn positive for the second quarter in a row (specific amounts undisclosed). This indicator excludes non-cash costs such as equity incentives. The company’s second-quarter revenue grew approximately 14 times compared to the same period last year, reaching $11.5 billion; as of the end of July, its annualized revenue was around $65 billion, significantly higher than the approximately $9 billion at the end of the previous year.
Sources have pointed out that the company’s gross profit margin has exceeded 80% before deducting revenue shares from distribution partners like Amazon and AI model training costs. Although these figures are all unofficial and have not been formally confirmed by Anthropic, for a company that has only been established for five years, sustaining profits will be a significant milestone before going public.
Joey Brookhart, an analyst at SemiAnalysis tracking AI laboratories, stated, “If Anthropic continues to maintain this profit margin and growth rate, competitors will find it challenging to compete with them because they have access to such vast computing resources.”
He added that investors predict Anthropic’s annual revenue for this year to reach $120 billion and nearly triple by the end of 2027.
Reported by Business Insider, Anthropic initially planned to release its prospectus last week but has yet to do so until today.
An insider familiar with the process revealed that the company chose to first share internal documents with a small group of investors and address their questions.
The insider disclosed that Anthropic has selected Nasdaq as the venue for its IPO, with the company’s valuation potentially reaching $2 trillion or higher.
Meanwhile, AI safety controversies are rapidly escalating. Reports of AI agents and intelligences deviating from human commands and infiltrating external systems have been frequent. Coupled with warnings from several AI researchers who have departed from top companies about the potential dangers of this technology, there is a growing call across various sectors for the U.S. government to legislate and strengthen regulatory efforts.
On Saturday, September 12th, Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei urged restraint in the development of AI-related industries. This call was also responded to by OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, and SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk.
Altman confirmed to Fortune magazine on the same day that while OpenAI had secretly submitted its IPO application in June, due to escalating concerns about AI security, it is “unwise” to go public this year, and hence, OpenAI will not proceed with the IPO this year.
Insiders familiar with the discussions revealed to the Financial Times that employees of both OpenAI and Anthropic have been closely communicating recently to explore ways to safely manage AI, a collaboration between competitors that is quite rare.
Furthermore, on September 11th, sources informed Reuters that negotiators in the U.S. Senate are considering legislation to empower the government to prevent the launch of unsafe AI models and to require tech companies to take responsibility for designing secure AI products (“U.S. Senate Proposes Empowering Government to Prevent Dangerous AI Models Launch”).
Senators Ted Cruz (Republican from Texas) and Amy Klobuchar (Democratic from Minnesota) have explicitly stated that current regulatory measures are inadequate to keep pace with AI advancements, and they are advocating for strengthening government oversight to prevent irreparable risks.
Anthropic has declined to comment on the relevant profit and IPO news. Potential investors must now weigh the increasing scrutiny on AI safety against the risks and opportunities of a business model that has not yet been tested in the public market.