Anthropic has reportedly warned investors that advanced artificial intelligence could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity” as it prepares for a potential stock market listing.
Reports said the Claude chatbot developer outlined the risks in a draft prospectus for its initial public offering (IPO). The document, which has not yet been made public, was reportedly circulated among a small group of partners.
A prospectus typically sets out a company’s financial information, growth plans and potential risks for investors. Reuters reported, having reviewed the document, that Anthropic dedicated almost a third of it to risk factors.
According to the reports, the company said its AI models could potentially “resist shutdown”, “conceal or manipulate information” and display behaviour “resembling blackmail”. It reportedly added that developing more advanced versions of the technology “could further increase the risk that our models cause harm”.
Earlier this month, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said the AI industry should slow development to allow safety measures to catch up. He said AI could, within six to 12 months, be capable of leading a swarm that could take over the internet if development did not proceed at a safe pace.
Rival OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, said on Monday that it was delaying the release of a new AI model because of security concerns. The company said the new version of its GPT-6 Astra model had fallen short of its “extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment”, which partly concerns whether the technology behaves reliably in line with the company’s intentions.
