Anthropic pushes $2T IPO to November as AI safety debate intensifies

Investors will have to wait until November for Anthropic’s massive IPO, according to insiders. Initially, there were expectations that the company would hold its historic IPO in October.

The timeline change comes against the backdrop of industry giants calling for a temporary slowdown in AI development. Nonetheless, some sources claim the November target was set before a warning from a former Anthropic researcher ignited the AI safety debate and fueled calls for a slowdown.

So far, a few advisers have supported the timeline change. They noted that a November IPO gives the AI leader a chance to report strong Q3 earnings and prove they can still hold their own, even after rival firm OpenAI released its new Astra model in September.

AI executives support a development slowdown

One of the first executives to voice the need for deceleration was Dario Amodei of Anthropic, along with Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI.

According to Amodei in his latest blog post, there is a significant risk in continuing at the current development pace. He asserted that companies would need to build more cautiously moving forward. He argued that pacing their work would allow them to deal with any eventualities if they occur.

Moreover, he spoke about the need for independent AI monitoring, industry-wide regulatory measures, and global frameworks. Rival companies specifically favored the third-party oversight. OpenAI’s Altman openly stated, “Committing to having independent evaluators with employee-like access is a great idea, and we will do the same. We’ll have more to share soon.”

An AI researcher, Jacob Coxon, who left Anthropic, had also cautioned that unless the industry slows its rapid progress, humanity could face an existential threat in the near term. He has asserted that employees at artificial intelligence firms are already very concerned about what the future holds for mankind over the next two years.

“It’s not at all an exaggeration to say that the people who are involved with both founding these companies and building the tech believe there is a possibility of human extinction,” he contended.

Anthropic is set to meet with prospective investors within a few days, some of whom will require more details on how a possible slowdown in product launches would impact the company’s financial forecasts.

So far, Anthropic’s advisory board members and investors maintain that any such delay in developing new products will not significantly impact revenue, since the company’s current products are highly profitable. They even project the firm’s revenue exceeding $110 billion per year.

Investors ask Anthropic to establish strong protections

During a San Francisco VC gathering on safety standards, Anthropic executives unveiled advanced product capabilities. Jared Kaplan, Benjamin Mann, and Andrej Karpathy showcased the Model Hardware Standard, which enables AI agents to physically control instruments such as robotic arms.

While the IPO itself barely came up in their discussions, some backers emphasized that building strong guardrails before listing on the stock market is the best way to avoid long-term operational risks.

Primarily, going public means facing intense shareholder scrutiny, making early security guardrails essential for protecting the company from future fallout.

November IPO puts pressure on Anthropic

The extra time could also give Anthropic an opportunity to strengthen its financial case ahead of the listing. Investors will likely focus on revenue growth, operating costs, demand for Claude, and the company’s ability to turn rising AI usage into sustainable profits.

The company’s valuation expectations are particularly important because a $2 trillion price tag would require investors to accept a very high growth outlook. The timing also places Anthropic directly in competition for investor attention with other major AI companies raising large amounts of capital.

As the AI industry enters a period of intense competition, investors will be watching closely to see whether Anthropic can maintain strong demand while addressing concerns over safety, regulation, and the cost of developing increasingly powerful models.

People are betting on Anthropic to lock in a $2 trillion valuation and raise a whopping $100 billion with its IPO, easily topping the previous record set by SpaceX back in June.

Meanwhile, OpenAI is holding off on going public until 2027, opting instead for a new financing deal to push its value past $1.2 trillion.

They pocketed over $120 billion in their last round, and some Anthropic investors fear a repeat performance will drain the market’s appetite before Anthropic even lists.

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