The supervisor of New York City's pension funds has requested that Anthropic postpone its initial public offering (IPO) until the risks associated with its artificial intelligence technology are better understood and managed. In a letter to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine expressed concerns regarding safety and security in the AI sector. Levine noted that Amodei has previously advocated for a slowdown in the development of advanced AI models.
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"Prudence should not only be shown with respect to the pace of the frontier, it should also be shown with respect to the timing of an IPO," Levine stated in the letter. He urged Anthropic to halt the IPO process to adequately address these significant issues that investors need to evaluate.
Levine oversees various financial entities, including pension funds for city workers, teachers, police, and firefighters, which collectively provide retirement benefits to more than 750,000 individuals. As of the end of August, these funds managed assets totaling $330 billion. Currently, about $7 million of these assets are invested in Anthropic. However, this exposure is expected to increase if Anthropic goes public, as its shares would be included in several stock indices, including the Russell 3000, which New York City monitors for its investments. A spokesperson for the Comptroller's office indicated that the city's funds would automatically become long-term investors upon Anthropic's integration into the index fund.
Additionally, on Wednesday, prosecutors from eight U.S. states filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, for allegedly failing to disclose certain risks and for having inadequate safety measures. This rival AI lab is also considering an IPO next year.