Extraordinary Warning from 'Anthropic': AI Threatens Human Survival

Anthropic plans to warn potential investors in its initial public offering that advanced artificial intelligence could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, an extraordinary warning from a company seeking to profit from the very technology it is cautioning against.

The company’s prospectus, reviewed by Reuters, highlights the risks associated with its AI models, noting that they may exhibit “self-preservation behaviors,” including attempts to “resist shutdown,” “hide or manipulate information,” and engage in “blackmail-like” conduct.

At the same time, Anthropic bets that AI will transform the global economy more profoundly than the Industrial Revolution, electricity, and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus reviewed by Reuters.

However, the cost of reaching this stage will be extremely high. The company reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025 and plans to spend $518 billion on commitments related to cloud computing, computing capabilities, and infrastructure in the coming years, according to the prospectus.

The prospectus details the company’s rapid growth over the past year, alongside deeper losses. Revenue surged 12-fold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion, while the company incurred operating losses exceeding $8 billion, excluding write-downs of various liabilities mostly linked to previous fundraising rounds, according to documents revealed here for the first time.

This IPO, which could value the company at more than $2 trillion, would capitalize on the meteoric rise of this AI research startup, founded just five years ago, and cement its status as a benchmark for Wall Street’s valuation of leading AI companies, including its rival OpenAI.