Anthropic IPO filing will show AI backlash as a risk factor, sources say

Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive officer of Anthropic, during an interview at Anthropic's headquarters in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, April 30, 2026.Jason Henry | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAnthropic is poised to hit the public market at a time when an increasing number of Americans are worried about artificial intelligence and are loudly opposing new data centers. That backlash is expected to be a key risk factor in Anthropic's IPO prospectus, according to people familiar with matter. The Claude creator has been holding preliminary "test-the-water" meetings with bankers and investors in San Francisco, said the people, who asked not to be named because the sessions are confidential. In the meetings, CFO Krishna Rao is being asked about competition, margin pressure from open-source models, and what happens if there's a slowdown in the building of data centers, the sources said. In June, Anthropic confidentially filed to go public in what will be among the biggest IPOs on record. Elon Musk's SpaceX, which competes with Anthropic through its AI division, raised $85.7 billion, including the underwriter option, two months ago. It's by far the largest offering to...