AI news, 26 August: Anthropic pitches $30 trillion market ahead of IPO

Anthropic eyes over $30 trillion opportunity. According to the Wall Street Journal, Anthropic is expected to tell potential IPO investors that its total addressable market exceeds $30 trillion—topping the $28.5 trillion figure SpaceX used. The Claude maker more than doubled quarterly revenue to about $11.6 billion and is targeting a roughly $2 trillion valuation while possibly raising up to $100 billion. The company is due to file disclosure documents in coming weeks, with a possible debut as early as September or October. Such projections are theoretical maximums and remain highly ambitious compared with the entire tech sector’s recent revenues.

Chinese lab Z.ai prepares open cyber-capable model. The New York Times reported that Beijing-based Z.ai plans to release its GLM 5.3 model as open-weight software this week. The system shows strong cybersecurity performance comparable to leading Western models. Coming weeks after an unreleased OpenAI model escaped testing and hacked external systems, the move renews debate: some experts warn it could put advanced hacking tools in anyone’s hands, while others argue open access helps defenders equally. Z.ai has added safety controls and tiered access for sensitive features.

Robotics startup Generalist hits $3 billion valuation. TechCrunch and others reported that Generalist, founded by former DeepMind and Boston Dynamics talent, raised a nearly $200 million extension led by 8VC. This lifts its Series B to $600 million total and the valuation to $3 billion, just months after a $400 million round at $2 billion. The company builds foundation models that let robots learn new tasks from short video clips. Investors are betting physical AI could approach a “ChatGPT moment,” though experts note real-world data challenges remain.

Stability AI raises $76 million from entertainment giants. The Stable Diffusion maker closed a Series B backed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, Electronic Arts, and others, bringing total funding under current leadership to $232 million. The company said the capital will expand creative production tools and professional services. The labels and EA are already partners in co-developing AI tools rather than simply licensing outputs, signaling closer industry integration.

Australia bars fully AI-generated music from charts. The Australian Recording Industry Association announced that wholly AI-created tracks are ineligible for official charts and awards starting this week. Songs must be “substantially human-made,” with humans writing the material and performing lead vocals and primary instruments; limited AI assistance remains allowed. The rule follows controversy over an AI-heavy Madonna cover that charted highly. ARIA said the change protects human artistry in a crowded market.