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However, they are pausing the compute and energy-intensive training runs that are how new and more powerful AI versions are created.

The company has not committed to a timeline for resumption.

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There is presently a race for AI supremacy, both between nations and chiefly between US companies such as OpenAI, Google, Meta, XAI, and Anthropic.

In the middle of this race, which by some metrics Anthropic is quite profitably winning, Anthropic has grown revenue from $1 billion to $19 billion in a little over a year.

They have decided to burn the lead.

The glaring question is why?

The answer perhaps goes back to the company's origins.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, who by most accounts left OpenAI due to disagreements about safety.

Recent reporting by Wall Street Journal has surfaced that interpersonal conflict may be the other half of the story.

Since then, Anthropic has positioned itself as the most responsible actor in the AI space.

One element of that is Anthropic's unique governance structure that includes the Long-Term Benefit Trust, an independent body whose members hold no equity in Anthropic and whose sole mandate is the long-term benefit of humanity.

Anthropic stated that both the board and LTBT have approved the training run pause.

The move is unprecedented by the sheer scale of losses involved.

Anthropic was valued at $380 billion in their Series G funding round in February.

Secondary derivatives markets implied a $595 billion valuation.

Claude Code, its AI coding tool had gone from zero to $2.5 billion in run rate revenue in nine months.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley have been competing for underwriting roles in what might be a $60 billion plus raise, the second largest offering in tech history.

Employees held millions in equity, founders held billions.

A $5 to $6 billion employee tender offer was already underway.