Anthropic filed paperwork to go public just as corporate America is entering its AI sticker shock phase.
Why it matters: Companies are Anthropic’s biggest customers
If they dial down their AI spend, that could weaken the AI lab’s revenue just as the it prepares to IPO. Driving the news: Hours after Anthropic filed its pre-IPO paperwork, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC that corporate concern over AI costs is “the most fair criticism of AI so far.” – Bain published a survey of nearly 1,000 companies showing that after investing in AI, “the value didn’t arrive,” with 40% of surveyed companies reporting AI cost savings below 10%. – An early Anthropic investor tells Axios that companies are waking up to how much they’re spending on Claude, Anthropic’s AI model, and that is a risk they’re monitoring closely. – This comes after an AI consultant told Axios a CFO client accidentally spent half a billion dollars on Claude in a single month. Between the lines: Even AI executives are acknowledging their technology has a cost problem. – “The risk of enterprises switching to cheaper models is existential and, frankly, escalating,” Matt Rodgers, co-founder and CEO of Mill, who also worked on the original iPhone, told Axios – “Some open source LLMs [large language models] are as good without the price tag,” he added.
Threat level: Corporate pushback on AI spend would be a challenge for every AI lab, but Anthropic could feel it more given its exposure to enterprise customers. – In April, Anthropic surpassed OpenAI in business customers for the first time, per Ramp data. – Business revenue has been Anthropic’s greatest strength, given these customers pay more than everyday people. – It could become Anthropic’s Achilles heel if businesses start to rebel against AI costs. Reality check: Anthropic is on track for nearly $50 billion in annual revenue per its latest funding round, and its first profitable quarter ever according to the Wall Street Journal. – Anthropic keeps beating its…