Anthropic Presses Ahead with 2026 IPO Despite Founder’s Call for an AI Slow‑Down

Multiple sources say Anthropic is keeping its 2026 IPO schedule intact, even after its own co‑founder, Dario Amodei, sparked a heated debate about slowing AI development. The chatter on social media suggested the company might pause its listing to avoid regulatory headaches, but insiders tell a different story.

According to Axios, the internal narrative is almost counter‑intuitive: going public could actually help the safety agenda. "Public markets demand transparency," one source explained, "and that transparency can make our models safer." In other words, the IPO might be seen as a lever to force more openness, not a risk to be avoided.

Amodei’s viral essay, which earned nods from Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, lays out a three‑step plan for a measured pace in AI. He stresses that “pacing” isn’t about stopping progress, but about giving companies enough time to align, safeguard, and let independent evaluators verify their work.

Anthropic says it has already taken the first step. The firm has voluntarily opened employee‑level access to third‑party auditors, allowing them to review safety practices and flag incidents. Amodei insists this move doesn’t sacrifice commercial advantage or the United States’ lead in AI.

The second step calls for democratic‑world AI leaders to agree on common safety standards; the third, more ambitious, asks for coordination between democracies and authoritarian regimes. Critics, however, read the slower release schedule as a cheap way to cut compute costs – a win for the bottom line, they argue.

Meanwhile, OpenAI appears to be eyeing a 2027 stock‑market debut, with no indication that its timeline has shifted. The coexistence of public‑company AI giants like Alphabet and SpaceX shows that being listed and pushing safety isn’t a paradox.

President Donald Trump has jumped into the fray, dismissing the “AI slowdown” as a hoax on his Truth Social account. He warned that heavy regulation could push U.S. firms offshore, especially as China’s leader Xi Jinping seems unfazed by such constraints.

Amodei, for his part, has rolled out a full‑blown PR push. He’s co‑authoring a book titled Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI, positioning the debate as a bipartisan battle that could protect American interests while keeping AI development in check.

So, despite the drama, Anthropic’s IPO engine keeps humming. Whether the public listing will indeed usher in greater safety, or simply give the company a new avenue for capital, remains to be seen.