TheCorporateCounsel.net

It looks like somebody leaked Anthropic’s draft S-1 filing to Reuters. I haven’t seen any formal reaction from the company, but Claude seems unfazed. The S-1 apparently has an 80-page(!) Risk Factors section, but Reuters has zeroed in on some truly apocalyptic risk disclosure in its article on the filing:

Anthropic plans to caution potential investors in its ​IPO that advanced AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity,” an extraordinary warning by a company seeking to profit from the same ‌technology.

The company’s IPO prospectus, reviewed by Reuters, highlights risks associated with its AI models, which it said could exhibit “self-preserving behaviors,” including attempts to “resist shutdown,” to “conceal or manipulate information” and behavior “resembling blackmail.”

“Our development of highly advanced models, platforms, and applications and expansion of use cases could further increase the risk that our models cause harm,” Anthropic said in the filing.

Reuters goes on to say that while companies routinely outline risks, “few, if any, have issued warnings suggesting their technology could cause potential human extinction.” Yeah, well, I can’t argue with that assertion.

Anthropic deserves credit for confronting some of the downright terrifying risks of AI head-on in its filing. Nevertheless, I think this prospectus disclosure could be enhanced by the use of graphics, and I have a very specific graphic in mind, courtesy of Ren & Stimpy:

We live in very crazy times, and sometimes the only alternative to giving in to existential dread is to shake your head and laugh.

– John Jenkins