Anthropic is making headlines this week with two big stories: A perceived push to go public and release of a new ai tool Which could change the future of business research.
According to reports, the AI startup has hired legal counsel to prepare for an initial public offering (IPO), which could take place as early as 2026. The Financial Times and other outlets. The move is part of a broader race against rival OpenAI, as both companies grapple with the steep costs of training Frontier models.
To find out what this means for the marketplace and your business, I spoke with Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of SmarterX and the Marketing AI Institute. Episode 184 of the Artificial Intelligence Show.
IPO race intensifies
Anthropic’s reported preparations for an IPO indicate the maturing of the AI landscape. The company is backed by giants Amazon and Google A private funding round is reportedly in talks This could increase the value of the business to more than $300 billion.
An Anthropic spokesperson said that acting as if they were publicly traded is “standard practice” for a company of their size. But the move also suggests a strategic shift to secure the capital needed to compete.
For Roetzer, the IPO news shows the immense momentum behind the company.
“Anthropic is getting a lot of positive sentiment for his direction right now,” says Roetzer. “I think Apple should have bought them. Google owns 14%. AWS has invested. But it looks like someone will try to get them before the IPO.”
“A great use case”
While a potential public offering is big news, Roetzer was more intrigued by Anthropic’s new research tool.
The company has introducedanthropological interviewer“A system powered by the cloud designed to conduct automated, adaptive interviews with users (at scale). The goal is to go beyond simple surveys and chat logs to truly understand how people feel about AI and how they use AI in their daily lives.
The tool works in three different stages:
- Plan: The AI creates an interview rubric based on research goals and best practices.
- Interview: It conducts real-time, adaptive interviews with users.
- Analysis: It synthesizes the transcripts to identify emerging themes and findings.
“What a fantastic use case,” says Roetzer. “What an amazing innovation we all had in front of us. Anyone with Gemini or ChatGPT or API access to the cloud could probably have built this interviewer model.”
Scaling up qualitative research
The implications for business are massive. Traditionally, robust qualitative research, such as customer interviews or employee feedback sessions, is not scalable because it requires too much human time and effort. The human interviewer changes this.
“Imagine this with an AI avatar that is researching customer success, doing market research, doing consumer research and optimizing in real time,” Roetzer says.
In its pilot, Anthropic used this tool Interviewed 1,250 professionals in various fields, Including scientists and creators. The results offered a fascinating look at the current state of AI adoption:
- Productivity: 86% of professionals report that AI saves them time
- Satisfaction: 65% were satisfied with the role of AI in their work
- Stigma: 69% mentioned social stigma associated with the use of AI tools in the workplace
The ability to uncover these types of insights without a team of human researchers opens up new possibilities for every organization.
“Interview Yourself” Strategy
Roetzer also believes this technology unlocks a powerful new internal workflow: AI interviewing. You,
Instead of staring at a blank prompt box, you can use this tool to let AI act as an advisor.
“I can see that same model actually being applied to strategy, where it’s like, ‘Hey, I need you to help me create a marketing strategy and allocate a budget for 2026. I want you to interview me like you were a McKinsey consultant,’” Roetzer says.
By flipping the script and allowing AI to investigate, leaders can generate richer, more nuanced outputs for everything from strategic planning to content creation.
Anthropic on a Roll
Anthropic’s steps illustrate a company that is thriving. This is a company that is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, and we can all benefit from it. For business leaders, in particular, the interviewer model offers an immediate, concrete way to rethink how we gather insights and develop strategies.
“I think we could run a whole hackathon on what to do with this kind of technology,” Roetzer says.
