Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company founded in 2021 by seven former OpenAI employees, is about to go public, with trading expected to begin on Nov. 19 in what will be one of the largest IPOs on record. The co-founders, who collectively own about 10% of the company, are poised to see their stakes valued at between $17 billion and $18 billion each if the share price reaches its target range of $70 to $78. The Amodeis had grown frustrated with OpenAI’s approach to AI safety, and the co-founders were concerned about the company’s ambitions to focus on commercialization.
Anthropic was launched by Dario and Daniela Amodei and five other OpenAI alumni: Tom Brown, Jack Clark, Jared Kaplan, Sam McCandlish, and Chris Olah. All were deeply concerned about what they saw as OpenAI’s ambitions to focus on commercialization. The Amodeis feared that AI capabilities would progress faster than the ability to understand them. “They really started Anthropic not because they were hoping to get rich, but they started Anthropic because they like wanted to shape this really important thing in the world,” said Jeffrey Ladish, who joined Anthropic as a contract safety engineer in September 2021 and now serves as executive director of Palisade Research.
Dario Amodei, a computational neuroscientist and former researcher at Baidu and Google Brain, said he started the company because he felt other companies were not really oriented toward trying to have that impact. Sam McCandlish said none of the founders wanted to start a company but felt it was their duty. Chris Olah said he had argued for a nonprofit focused on safety research instead.
Despite their small equity stake, the co-founders will control 50.1% of the voting power through a legal entity called Founder LLC. The IPO prospectus also says the founders plan to donate 80% of their personal Anthropic equity wealth to philanthropy, though the pledge is not legally binding. The company is reserving 5% of its shares to establish a public benefit fund to support nonprofits and research.
The seven founders come from diverse backgrounds. Tom Brown, Anthropic’s chief compute officer, founded two startups and led the training of GPT-3 at OpenAI. Jack Clark, a former journalist for Bloomberg and ZDNet, now heads the company’s public benefit efforts. Jared Kaplan, chief science officer, is an associate professor of physics at Johns Hopkins who co-pioneered scaling laws and pioneered Constitutional AI. Sam McCandlish, chief architect, holds a PhD in theoretical physics. Chris Olah, who heads interpretability research, dropped out of university and was a Thiel Fellow before working at Google Brain and OpenAI.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Anthropic's IPO will be among the largest in history, reflecting the immense value the market places on frontier AI companies.
- The founders' wealth could fuel large-scale philanthropy or additional AI safety research, given their stated plans to give away 80% of their equity gains.
- The transition from private safety-focused company to public corporation may create new pressures to commercialise, potentially shifting the balance between safety and profit.
Background
Anthropic was founded in early 2021 by Dario and Daniela Amodei after a falling-out with OpenAI's leadership over AI safety. The company has developed large language models with a focus on alignment and interpretability, and has attracted significant investment, reaching a valuation target of nearly $1.4 trillion in its forthcoming IPO.
Key Perspectives
Dario Amodei: He started Anthropic because he felt other companies were not genuinely oriented toward having a meaningful impact on difficult problems.
Sam McCandlish and Chris Olah: Neither initially wanted to start a company; they felt it was their duty to do so.
Jeffrey Ladish (Palisade Research): The founders were motivated by a desire to shape AI's development, not by the opportunity to get rich.
What to Watch
- The IPO pricing and first-day trading performance on Nov. 19.
- Whether the founders' 50.1% voting control leads to any unusual governance decisions.
- The establishment of the public benefit fund and whether the philanthropy pledge is honoured.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
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- SupportedAnthropic is heading for one of the biggest IPOs on record.Tech: “the artificial intelligence company is about to go public, with trading expected to begin on Nov. 19, in what will be one of the biggest IPOs on record.”
- SupportedThe co-founders could each see their stakes valued at $17 billion to $18 billion if the share price reaches $70 to $78.Tech: “If Anthropic's IPO reaches its target of $70 to $78 per share , or a market valuation of nearly $1.4 trillion, it would push those stakes to $17 billion to $18 billion.”
- SupportedThe seven former OpenAI employees collectively own about 10% of Anthropic.Tech: “Collectively the co-founders own about 10% of Anthropic.”
- SupportedThe founders will hold 50.1% of the voting power through Founder LLC.Tech: “Founder LLC , the legal entity set up that owns a single Class F share, gives Anthropic's co-founders a 50.1% majority voting control over the company.”
- SupportedAnthropic was founded in 2021 by seven former OpenAI employees.Tech: “Four researchers, a former journalist, a public policymaker, and an engineer founded Anthropic in 2021.”
- SupportedTrading is expected to begin on Nov. 19.Tech: “with trading expected to begin on Nov. 19,”
- SupportedThe Amodeis grew frustrated with OpenAI over its approach to AI safety.Tech: “the two had grown frustrated with their employer over its approach to AI safety.”
- SupportedThe founders were concerned about OpenAI's ambitions to focus on commercialization.Tech: “They were all deeply concerned about OpenAI's ambitions to focus on commercialization,”
- SupportedJeffrey Ladish said the founders started Anthropic to shape an important thing in the world, not to get rich.Tech: “"They really started Anthropic not because they were hoping to get rich, but they started Anthropic because they like wanted to shape this really important thing in the world, and they thought that other people might do it worse than them," said Jeffrey Ladish”
- SupportedThe founders plan to donate 80% of the wealth from their personal Anthropic equity to philanthropy, but the pledge is not legally binding.Tech: “They plan to dedicate 80% of the wealth from their personal Anthropic equity to philanthropy, according to the IPO filing, though the pledge isn't legally binding.”
- SupportedAnthropic is setting aside 5% of its shares for a public benefit fund supporting nonprofits and research.Tech: “Anthropic is also setting aside 5% of its shares to form a new public benefit fund — to finance nonprofits, research, and potentially direct community grants”
- SupportedSam McCandlish said the founders did not want to start a company but felt it was their duty.Tech: “In a December 2024 video from Anthropic's YouTube channel, he said, "None of us wanted to found a company. We just felt like it was our duty."”
