Anthropic’s S-1 embodies all the contradictions of the AI boom, and the questions about what happens next
Source: Fortune ·
The anxiously awaited go-public filing from the $965 billion company is filled with contradictions that, perhaps, wholly encapsulate the AI era.
From the source
Anthropic’s S-1 is a Rorschach test, perhaps. The anxiously awaited go-public filing from the $965 billion company is filled with contradictions that, perhaps, wholly encapsulate the AI era. It starts with rhetoric: That AI, “one of the most consequential technologies in human history,” will commence an “age of miracles,” while simultaneously rife with “existential risks to society.” AI, Anthropic says in its S-1, can do everything from shortening DMV lines to potentially curing cancer—and “may pose catastrophic [risks].” The contradictions, of course, filter through to the numbers, including the headline revenue figure for the first half of 2026: $16.29 billion in revenue (reflective of sweeping demand for Claude), posed right next to Anthropic’s net loss of $80.7 billion for the six months leading up to June 2026. Anthropic could be the largest IPO ever—with one of the largest net losses ever recorded by a public or soon-to-be-public company. That mammoth chunk of red ink is due to…