Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has taken a big step toward a public market debut, announcing that it has confidentially filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering (IPO), AP reported.The company said the filing gives it the option to go public after the SEC completes its review process, although the timing of the offering will depend on market conditions and other factors. Anthropic has not yet disclosed how many shares it plans to offer or the proposed price range.The IPO move comes days after Anthropic announced it had raised $65 billion in private funding, taking its valuation to $965 billion and making the five-year-old company one of the world’s most valuable startups.The maker of cloud chatbots said it is generating $47 billion in annual revenue from customers using its AI technology for coding, workplace tasks and personal assistance. The latest valuation puts Anthropic ahead of main rival OpenAI in both market value and reported revenue.Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic has rapidly emerged as one of the leading players in the AI industry. Along with OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the company is one of a group of high-profile technology firms expected to eventually become publicly traded.Despite rising valuations and investor interest, all three companies are spending more money than they are earning, sparking debate among analysts over whether the current excitement over artificial intelligence could create a market bubble.
