Anthropic's confidential IPO filing arrived just days before the company unveiled a new generation of Claude models that many developers describe as another significant leap in artificial intelligence capability.
The two developments highlight how quickly the AI industry is evolving.
New models are arriving at a pace that would have seemed extraordinary even a year ago. At the same time, investors are preparing for a potential mega-wave of AI listings. Anthropic launched its IPO process last week, while OpenAI (Unlisted:OPAI) has now confidentially filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, joining SpaceX (Unlisted (US):SPACEX) among the industry's most closely watched prospective floats.
As AI systems become more capable, the conversation around artificial intelligence is increasingly shifting away from what the technology can do and towards what it might replace.
According to a recent note from Spaceship vice president of investments Jason Sedawie, investors may have a straightforward way to respond to AI-driven disruption: own the companies creating it.
"The shift to AI will undoubtedly create real challenges for workers," Sedawie said.
"But investing in the companies leading that change can be a way to participate in the upside of the transition, not just bear the potential costs."
AI starts reshaping the workforce
The argument arrives as evidence of AI's impact on the workforce begins to emerge.
Sedawie pointed to recent Deloitte forecasts showing that structural changes linked to artificial intelligence are becoming visible in the Australian labour market and are likely to become more pronounced over coming years. He noted that WiseTech Global added fuel to that discussion when it confirmed plans to reduce around 2,000 roles over two years as it accelerates AI adoption across parts of its business.
“Technology companies are announcing layoffs and also slowing hiring,” Sedawie said. “That’s happening alongside rising output expectations for employees, as companies push for their workforces to embrace AI to boost efficiency.”
Sedawie argues that investors should pay close attention not only to which jobs may be affected, but also to where value is being created.
Looking beyond the chips
For much of the AI boom, investors seeking exposure focused on infrastructure providers.
Chipmakers, networking companies and data centre operators emerged as some of the biggest beneficiaries as the industry raced to build the computing capacity required to train and run increasingly powerful models.
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD) became the most visible winner, but Sedawie believes some of the more interesting opportunities may sit further up the stack.
"AI agents are only as useful as the data they can access, and that data sits inside the software incumbents," he said.
He points to companies such as Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW), which is embedding AI capabilities directly into enterprise data systems, allowing businesses to deploy AI tools within their existing information and governance frameworks.
Cybersecurity is also attracting growing attention.
“As enterprises had AI agents access to their core systems, each deployment opens a new attack surface, so security spend now scales hand-in-hand with AI adoption,” Sedawie wrote.
He highlighted Anthropic's recently announced Project Glasswing initiative, which brings together security organisations to identify software vulnerabilities using advanced AI tools.
Anthropic said participants uncovered more than 10,000 high- or critical-severity vulnerabilities within weeks.
Sedawie noted that CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) was among the launch partners and is the only cybersecurity company working with both Anthropic and OpenAI.
“As its CEO put it, ‘AI is creating the largest security demand driver since enterprises moved to the cloud,’ and CrowdStrike is positioned as a primary beneficiary,” he said.
The next phase of AI investing
The investment landscape may look very different once Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX have entered public markets.
Until now, most investors have gained exposure to artificial intelligence indirectly through infrastructure suppliers, cloud providers and software companies building on top of foundation models.
That could change if some of the industry's most influential AI developers become directly investable.
The arrival of those companies would give investors a more direct way to participate in the economics of artificial intelligence rather than relying on businesses supplying the tools, chips and infrastructure behind it, Sedarie argues.
He noted that, for many investors, superannuation remains one of the most tax-effective ways to gain long-term exposure to AI-related investments, with the government's proposed capital gains tax changes leaving existing super tax settings unchanged.
“For most Australians, the next question is how to gain that exposure as efficiently as possible,” he said.