Five things to know about Anthropic as AI giant targets record-breaking stock debut

Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence company, is preparing for a potentially record-breaking stock market debut with an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO could raise up to $64 billion (R1.056 trillion) and value the business at as much as $1.4 trillion (R23.1 trillion). The company, founded in 2019 by former OpenAI employees Dario and Daniela Amodei, aims to go public during the week of November 16. The listing is seen as a test of the long-term financial prospects of the AI industry and the US economy.

Here are five key facts about Anthropic:

1. Anthropic was founded by Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela, both former employees of OpenAI. They left OpenAI in 2020 due to disagreements over AI development.

2. The company's leaders have been influenced by two movements: rationalism, which warns of potential threats from advanced AI, and effective altruism, a philosophy focused on maximizing the impact of charitable giving.

3. Anthropic's IPO filing lists Amazon, Alphabet, Founders Fund, Microsoft, and Nvidia as its largest backers. The company raised $65 billion (R1.073 trillion) at a valuation of $965 billion (R15.923 billion) in May, surpassing OpenAI in valuation.

4. Anthropic's AI chatbot, Claude, has come under scrutiny from the US government. The Pentagon sought unrestricted access to the chatbot, while former President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using it, citing concerns over domestic mass surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons.

5. Notable investors in Anthropic include Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who contributed tens of millions of dollars to the company's first funding round in 2021.