New York City Comptroller Calls on Anthropic to Delay IPO, Address AI Safety and Governance Risks First

October 15 — According to Bloomberg, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine sent a letter to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Wednesday, calling on the company to hold off on its IPO until it has fully addressed risks related to AI safety, governance, and the pace of development, and to prioritize tackling the unprecedented risks posed by the technology. Levine oversees public pension funds with more than $325 billion in assets.

Levine argued that the "morally binding" safety agreements the Trump administration reached with AI companies including Anthropic remain insufficient. He urged Anthropic to establish corresponding governance mechanisms, specifically disclose how it will implement appropriate audits and controls, the scope of those measures, and the expected timeline, and explain whether and how these measures can respond to Amodei's earlier call to slow the pace of AI model capability development.

Anthropic plans to go public as early as next month, with fundraising that could match or exceed SpaceX's previous record-breaking IPO. The company met with some investors at its headquarters on Wednesday and disclosed third-quarter revenue of $16.8 billion this year. Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.