Anthropic goes on charm offensive with investors ahead of massive IPO that could rival SpaceX: report

Anthropic has been meeting with potential investors ahead of what could be a record-breaking IPO to assuage their concerns around the many challenges facing the AI industry, according to a report.The Silicon Valley giant – worth a whopping $965 billion – is targeting a stock market debut this fall that could end up surpassing Elon Musk’s mammoth SpaceX IPO, though the AI industry is facing several hurdles that have left investors wary.In recent weeks, potential investors have grilled Anthropic on how it expects a handful of challenges to hit growth.Those range from cheaper Chinese rivals and regulatory hurdles to heated backlash against data centers and concerns about massive spending, according to the Wall Street Journal. During these pre-IPO meetings, Anthropic executives have played down the threat of Chinese competition, arguing that they are focused on delivering the latest cutting-edge technology that can beat out rivals, the Journal reported.Anthropic also told some investors that it plans to push into AI’s healthcare and biology uses, which could tamp down the growing negative public sentiment around the new tech, sources told the Journal. There has been huge uncertainty around whether tech companies’ multibillion-dollar commitments to AI spending will eventually pay off, or whether it’s a repeat of the late 1990s “dot-com bubble” – resulting in choppy trading for AI-exposed stocks.Anthropic has been seen as the front-runner in the global AI race largely thanks to its successful coding tool, Claude Code, and its ultra-powerful bot, Claude Mythos. But reports of Mythos running rampant during internal testing and trying to hack into services using fake identities has fueled safety concerns around the potential risks surrounding top AI models.All eyes are on Anthropic’s public debut – which is expected in September or early October – since the price it selects will set the tone for how investors value other major AI companies, accord...