By PYMNTS | October 15, 2026
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine is calling on Anthropic to delay its initial public offering and focus its energies on artificial intelligence safety issues the company itself has highlighted.
Levine made this call in a Wednesday (Oct. 14) letter addressed to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and posted on the New York City Comptroller’s website.
“Before going public, the company should prioritize addressing the myriad safety concerns surrounding AI threats and establishing a governance regime that matches the seriousness of the concerns being raised by you as well as industry researchers, policymakers and the public,” Levine said in the letter. “The demands of preparing for a public offering diverts resources and attention from this very necessary work.”
Levine cited a Sept. 12 essay in which Amodei said the industry “must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models,” the claim of former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon that insiders believe AI “could kill us all by the end of the decade,” and news reports that Anthropic’s draft S-1 filing includes 80 pages of risk disclosures and says AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.”
“Considering these concerns, Anthropic should disclose with specificity how it will implement appropriate audits and controls, the scope of what these controls are intended to address, as well as a projected timeline,” Levine said in the letter. “This should also include an explanation of whether and how these controls will sufficiently address your call to slow the pace at which the capabilities of AI models advance.”
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Anthropic did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
The New York City comptroller is an elected official responsible for the city’s fiscal health, according to the office’s website.
Levine said in the letter that in this role, he serves as investment advisor, custodian and trustee of New York City pension funds that have over $325 billion in assets.
The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 5 that New York City is positioning itself as a leader in an effort to slow down the development of AI. The city council held a hearing focused on AI safety on that day, and it is considering several bills that aim to rein in the technology.
Anthropic announced in June that filed confidentially for an IPO, and Bloomberg reported Oct. 1 that the company aims to begin trading before the Thanksgiving holiday.
OpenAI postponed its plans to go public amid corporate concerns about artificial intelligence safety, CEO Sam Altman told Fortune in September.
Anthropic said in a Thursday announcement that after committing last month to allow independent, third-party assessments of its models and safety practices, the company has started to give “employee-like access” to a team from METR, a nonprofit that performs those sorts of assessments.