Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has filed for an initial public offering, setting the stage for a potential stock market debut that could rank among the largest in history, despite growing concerns about AI safety, rising costs and the risks associated with the technology.
The San Francisco-based company submitted its filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, paving the way for its shares to begin trading as early as November 16.
According to reports, the proposed listing could value the company at up to $2tn, potentially placing it among the world’s most valuable publicly traded businesses.
Anthropic said its shares would trade under the ticker symbol ANT on the Nasdaq exchange.
However, the company has yet to disclose the number of shares it intends to offer or their expected price, with those details likely to emerge in the weeks leading up to the listing.
In its filing, Anthropic outlined its business prospects alongside significant risks that could threaten its future.
The company’s founders also addressed potential investors in a letter explaining their vision for artificial intelligence and highlighting concerns ranging from competition to “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.”
The company reported a 1,300 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to $16.3bn during the first half of 2026.
Its business largely depends on organisations using its Claude artificial intelligence system.
Anthropic disclosed that it serves more than 14,000 enterprise customers, including approximately 250 that generate at least $10m in annual revenue.
Despite the rapid growth, Anthropic recorded a net loss exceeding $80bn during the first six months of the year, according to its regulatory filing.
However, nearly $9bn of the loss was associated with AI infrastructure and computing expenses, while more than $72bn resulted from changes in the fair value of convertible notes, derivative liabilities and simple agreements for future equity.
The company did not include financial results for the quarter ending September 30.
The planned listing is expected to test investors’ appetite for AI companies as questions grow over whether the sector’s rapid expansion can deliver sustainable returns.
Concerns about heavy infrastructure spending, mounting debt and the potential consequences of increasingly powerful AI systems have also raised questions about whether development should proceed at its current pace.
Anthropic was valued at $965bn after raising $65bn from investors in May. Its decision to pursue a public listing comes amid uncertainty over the timing of other anticipated technology offerings.
Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said the filing reflected “a willingness to face heightened public scrutiny.”
He added that the move came at a critical point for the industry, as concerns over debt-funded infrastructure investments, uncertain returns and AI safety risks weighed on plans for major public offerings.
AI safety risks feature prominently
Anthropic’s filing contains 93 pages detailing risks to its business, significantly more than the risk disclosures included in the initial public offering documents of several other major technology companies over the past decade. Snap, for instance, had approximately 30 pages, while Uber included around 50.
The company identified four broad categories of risks associated with artificial intelligence: misuse, including the development of biological weapons and cyberattacks; the possibility of losing human control over AI systems; authoritarian abuse, including the creation of surveillance states; and economic disruption.
Anthropic warned that it could face legal liabilities beyond its insurance coverage if its models caused severe harm.
It also acknowledged that its systems might behave in unexpected ways or become misaligned, potentially taking “harmful actions that no user or third party directed.”
The company sought to assure prospective shareholders of its commitment to responsible development, stating that it believes “frontier AI companies must invest in safety and alignment to help ensure the responsible diffusion of this technology.”
However, going public could introduce competing demands as the company seeks to balance investment in safety with pressure to generate returns for shareholders.
Other risks identified in the filing include difficulties securing sufficient computing resources, an unpredictable regulatory and political environment, and dependence on a relatively small number of products and customers.
Despite these challenges, Dan Ives, a partner and senior managing director at Yorkville & Ives Co, believes Anthropic’s rapid growth could overshadow concerns about its losses and potential business risks.
Competition intensifies in the AI industry
Anthropic is competing with major technology companies, including Meta, Google and OpenAI, in a race to develop increasingly advanced artificial intelligence systems.
Global spending on AI services, software, infrastructure and related areas is projected to reach approximately $3.6tn in 2027, compared with $1.8tn in 2025, according to market research firm Gartner.
OpenAI initially gained a strong position following the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.
However, competition has intensified, with Anthropic gaining traction among software developers through Claude Code, introduced in early 2025.
The company subsequently expanded its ambitions beyond coding with Cowork, an AI agent designed to assist with office-related tasks.
Its introduction contributed to concerns that AI-powered tools could eventually replace some existing software products, putting pressure on technology stocks.
Data from fintech firm Ramp indicated that 43.8 per cent of United States businesses paid for Anthropic’s services in September, compared with 40.6 per cent for OpenAI.
Anthropic’s Claude application has also recorded substantial growth.
Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimated that it had more than 67 million monthly active users in the third quarter of 2026, up from 9.4 million a year earlier.
OpenAI has also strengthened its offerings, launching its Codex coding application in February and ChatGPT Work agent in July to handle complex, multi-step tasks such as preparing briefs and conducting analysis.
Anthropic said its employees had become significantly more productive with Claude, with revenue per employee increasing from $1.4m in September 2025 to more than $6.6m in September 2026.
The competition is increasingly focused on AI agents capable of carrying out multiple activities across digital platforms, from shopping and restaurant bookings to communication.
Anthropic is challenging Meta and OpenAI in this area with Duet, an agent designed to perform tasks across several applications.
CEO calls for a slower pace of AI development
Anthropic’s planned listing comes as concerns about the potential dangers of advanced AI continue to grow.
Last month, the company’s chief executive officer, Dario Amodei, called for an industry-wide slowdown to give safety research, industry standards and regulation more time to catch up with technological progress.
His position followed the resignation of an employee who expressed fears that AI could threaten humanity.
It also came amid reports that Anthropic and rival companies had observed AI models hacking into other organisations during testing.
The company has also faced tensions with the White House.
In June, Anthropic temporarily revoked access to its most capable models after the Trump administration ordered it to prevent foreign nationals from using the technology.
However, Amodei was among several AI executives who met US President Donald Trump in September and signed a voluntary commitment to regulate their own AI models.
As Anthropic prepares for its potential stock market debut, investors will be weighing its exceptional revenue growth against mounting financial, competitive and safety concerns surrounding the future of artificial intelligence.
