Anthropic [Reuters]
Anthropic [Reuters]

Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude model, has moved ahead of OpenAI in the race to go public, filing confidential listing paperwork with US regulators after already surpassing its rival in valuation.

Anthropic said Monday it had submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on a confidential basis as part of its initial public offering process.

"Upon completion of the SEC review process, Anthropic will have the option to determine whether to proceed with a listing," the company said, adding that the timing of any offering and listing would depend on market conditions and other factors.

The number of shares to be offered and the offering price have not yet been determined.

Anthropic last month raised $65 billion in new investment, giving it a valuation of $965 billion — surpassing OpenAI, which was valued at $852 billion in March.

OpenAI is also preparing prospectus documents and other materials for submission to securities regulators, though it does not appear to have filed them yet.

Both companies are targeting a listing this year and are competing to be first to tap the IPO market.

The urgency reflects a broader queue of high-profile listings: Cerebras has already moved forward with its offering, and Elon Musk's space company SpaceX is preparing a massive listing of its own. Going first is seen as a fundraising advantage.

Gil Luria, an analyst at investment bank D.A. Davidson, told Reuters that "OpenAI and Anthropic are racing to go public before they run out of capital."

Luria added that Anthropic has another reason to enter the public market before OpenAI: it would allow the company to set financial reporting standards for cutting-edge AI models. "By doing so, it can set the standards in its favor," he said.

Meanwhile, AFP reported, citing an EU spokesperson, that Anthropic has agreed to give the EU access to its Claude Mythos model, which is capable of detecting cybersecurity vulnerabilities at an expert level.

Anthropic recently said it plans to release a Mythos-level AI model to the public within the coming weeks, following the development of safety measures.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com