Anthropic's $16.8 billion quarter and the new limits on AI
AI demand kept climbing this week, and the people who pay for it, lend to it and regulate it began drawing limits around it. The money is real: Anthropic reported its biggest quarter yet. What changed is who sets the terms. Spending caps, credit costs and rules on automation now come from outside the AI companies, and a business buying AI has to plan around them.
Anthropic tells investors its quarterly revenue reached $16.8 billion
In meetings reported on October 15, Anthropic told prospective investors that its third-quarter revenue was $16.8 billion, up 45% from about $11.6 billion in the second quarter. It also said it was profitable on an adjusted basis, without saying which costs that measure leaves out. A stock-market listing is expected as soon as November.
These are the first revenue figures from a leading AI developer heading to the stock market, and investors will use them to price the whole sector. The profit claim waits on audited accounts in the prospectus. A supplier that must show profit to public shareholders has less reason to keep cutting prices.
Source: CNBC
CoreWeave's bonds drop below 80 cents as default fears rise
On October 14 bonds issued by CoreWeave, a US company that rents AI computing capacity to labs and large firms, fell below 80 cents on the dollar. A day later, the cost of insuring them against default implied a better-than-even chance that CoreWeave fails to pay within five years.
Part of the capacity behind AI services sits with companies whose borrowing costs are rising fast. If your AI provider depends on one of them, ask who takes over the contracts if that supplier fails.
Source: Bloomberg
Accenture caps staff spending on Claude at $29 a month
Since October 1 Accenture has funded $29 per employee per month for Anthropic's Claude Enterprise plan, according to an internal memo; any use above that must be charged to a project or team budget. Some staff had been running up bills of $500 to $1,000 a month.
Usage pricing turns AI from a flat license into a running cost, and one of the largest sellers of AI work is now rationing it for its own staff. One heavy user can cost as much as thirty-four light ones. Paying per use calls for a budget per person and a rule for who pays when a project runs over.
Source: 404 Media
China proposes export controls on AI models, agents and computing clusters
On October 16 China's commerce and science ministries proposed adding 40 technologies to the country's export-control list, 23 of them in AI, including large models, agents and computing clusters. Remote access through an application programming interface (API) and open-source releases appear to stay outside the rules. Comments close on November 15.
China now treats model technology as a controlled export, as the US already does with advanced chips. Using Chinese models through the cloud looks unaffected; running them on your own servers, or buying a company that does, could need Chinese approval.
Source: Bloomberg
Eight US states sue OpenAI over ChatGPT's safety for young users
On October 14 eight US states each sued OpenAI in state court, alleging the company misled users about ChatGPT's safeguards for young people. Iowa also asked its court to pause OpenAI's testing of agents that act on their own.
A vendor's public safety promises are becoming evidence in consumer-protection cases. What a supplier says about its safeguards belongs in your contract, where it can be enforced.
Source: CNBC
Brazil requires companies to offer a human when AI handles customer service
On October 13 Brazil published a decree replacing its 2022 rules for consumer service lines. Chatbots may still sort requests, but they cannot stop a customer from reaching a person, and human agents must answer by phone and on at least one digital channel from 8am to 8pm every day. The rules take effect 20 days after publication.
This sets a hard limit on automating support in Latin America's largest market, and it now covers digital banks and payment companies too. Companies serving Brazilian consumers have to budget for people on the phones as well as for the software.
Source: Tecnoblog
Shopify opens its catalog and checkout to any AI shopping agent
On October 13 Shopify let any AI agent search its catalog of more than 1 billion products without an API key, the access code developers usually need. The agent can also pay through Shop Pay, Shopify's one-click payment service, once the shopper confirms the total.
Buying through an agent no longer needs a partnership deal, and the shopper confirms each total. Orders placed by software will reach ordinary online shops.
Source: Shopify
Next week, watch whether Anthropic files a prospectus with audited accounts, and whether CoreWeave's bonds recover. This week's move: for each AI service you pay for, write down the monthly spend per person, the supplier you would fall back on, and the point where a person takes over from the software. Those limits are being set this year, by you or by someone else.