Nathaniel Whittemore

Now, the broader theme going on is the market stakes and implications of AI going up and up and up, and the resulting jockeying for opinion when it comes to the right policy and discussions of how people can participate.

Now, of course, AI's role in the markets is not a new theme.

In fact, basically since the launch of ChatGPT, AI has been the recurring theme that has kept markets afloat throughout every other chaotic thing that has happened.

And now with a raft of very high profile IPOs coming up, the discussion of AI in markets is reaching its loudest point ever.

To kick off this week, we got an announcement that Anthropic had officially joined the IPO race, filing their paperwork with the SEC on Monday.

Like SpaceX before them, Anthropic filed their draft prospectus confidentially, meaning we won't get a look at the company's audited financials until much later in the process.

Now, much was made about the choice to keep the filing confidential, but this has at this point been the standard playbook for IPOs for over a decade.

At this stage, we don't know things like how the company will be valued, how much stock they plan to sell.

And in terms of timeline, the SpaceX IPO is the only real comparison for a company of this size.

SpaceX is expecting to list next Friday, which is a little over 10 weeks from their initial filing and is quite fast for an IPO to go off.

Reports suggest that Anthropic is seeking a similarly speedy launch, with some even speculating that the company might try to go out this summer.

Axios business editor Dan Primack writes, "...Anthropic filing confidentially now seems to put it on a path to go public well before Labor Day, or at least gives it the optionality.

Big companies rarely price into summer vacations, but this is already an outlier for so many reasons."

Now, for market commentators, the specific date is less of a question than whether Anthropic gets out ahead of OpenAI or whether Altman can go public first.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that OpenAI's filing was expected within days, but that was two weeks ago and we haven't heard anything since.

During an interview on Monday, Sam Altman didn't seem to be in any particular rush.

Asked if there was a race to go public, he responded,

I don't think, no, not for that.

I think there is a race to deliver the best technology and build the best business.

Going public is a financing event, and I don't think that's one we're focused on the timing of.