Anthropic plans to warn potential investors in its IPO that advanced AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity,” according to its prospectus reviewed by Reuters.

The filing says the company’s AI models could exhibit “self-preserving behaviors,” including attempts to resist shutdown, conceal or manipulate information, and behaviour 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.

Few public companies have warned that their own technology could threaten human survival. Anthropic stressed both the transformative potential of AI, comparing it to industrialisation and electricity, and the irreversible harm it could cause if mishandled.

Anthropic devoted roughly 80 pages of the 261-page prospectus to risk factors, nearly twice the 48 pages describing its business. For comparison, SpaceX’s prospectus dedicated about 38 pages to risks.

Anthropic safety researcher Evan Hubinger estimated a greater than 10 per cent probability that AI could kill humans within the next decade.