Anthropic Raises $65 Billion, Surpassing OpenAI in Valuation

The fundraising follows a major commitment from Amazon, which announced in April it would invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic. The e-commerce giant's deepening ties with the AI startup are linked to Anthropic's pledge to spend more than $100 billion on Amazon's cloud technologies over the next decade.

Unlike OpenAI, which has pursued a broad consumer base with products like ChatGPT, Anthropic has focused primarily on enterprise customers from its inception. The company develops Claude, a chatbot designed for professional and business environments.

Both Anthropic and OpenAI are reportedly considering initial public offerings this year. The potential listings come amid a wave of high-profile tech IPOs, with Elon Musk's SpaceX expected to go public as early as June 12. SpaceX could achieve a record valuation of $1.75 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO in history.

IPO Prospects and SpaceX

Anthropic is also developing a new AI model called Mythos, which has not yet been publicly released. US authorities and a select group of corporations currently have test access to the system.

The company is simultaneously navigating a legal dispute with the US Department of Defense. The conflict centers on unrestricted military use of AI technology, which Anthropic has denied to the Pentagon.

Pentagon Dispute and German Warnings

Anthropic has stated it does not want its AI used for domestic mass surveillance or in fully autonomous weapons systems. The company used the phrase "Massenüberwachung im Inland" to describe its concerns.

In response, the Pentagon classified Anthropic as a supply chain security risk, a designation the company is now challenging in court. The Pentagon described the firm as a "Sicherheitsrisiko in der Lieferkette."

German constitutional protection officials and security policymakers have also raised alarms about the potential risks posed by Mythos. Authorities in Berlin fear that criminals or state actors could exploit the model to launch cyberattacks.

Anthropic has not commented publicly on the specific concerns raised by German officials. The company maintains that its safety protocols are designed to prevent misuse of its technology.