Anthropic, the maker of Claude, has been among the leaders in AI development.

Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude , filed papers Monday to prepare for a potential initial public offering (IPO), taking a major step toward a listing on public markets.

The long-anticipated move comes months after Anthropic said it had "confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1" with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Monday's filing touts AI as "one of the most consequential technologies in human history. If managed well, it could rapidly accelerate scientific innovation, greatly increase economic growth rates, bring cures for major diseases within reach, and solve problems that have resisted generations of human effort."

The Anthropic logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen.

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At the same time, "To build AI is to harness cognition itself, and anything so powerful can be used for ill as well as good," Anthropic's…