AI News Today October 15 - Anthropic Says It’s Profitable Ahead of IPO, EU Probes OpenAI, OpenAI Accuses Apple

The AI company lining up what could be the biggest stock market debut on record has just told investors it is making money, and that changes the conversation about whether the AI boom is real.

There is a lot happening in AI every day, so we have picked out the stories that matter most for your money and your future: Anthropic’s numbers, Europe’s first real crackdown on the industry, and a spy fight between OpenAI and Apple.

Let’s start with the numbers Wall Street has been waiting for.

Anthropic Revenue Hits $16.8 Billion: Is the AI Boom Finally Paying Off?

For years, the biggest question about AI has been a simple one: when does it start making money?

Anthropic, the maker of Claude, told potential investors that revenue jumped to $16.8 billion in the third quarter, up from $11.6 billion in the second and $4.7 billion in the first. It also said it was profitable on an adjusted basis, bringing in $1.70 in revenue for every dollar it spent on computing power.

The numbers arrive weeks before a stock market listing expected in November that could value the company at close to $2 trillion.

There are catches. Adjusted profit leaves out some costs, the figures have not been publicly audited, and growth slowed from earlier this year, coming in below some investors’ hopes.

A company this size could eventually end up in the index funds behind millions of retirement accounts, so how these numbers hold up matters well beyond Silicon Valley.

For the first time, one of the big AI labs is showing it can bring in more than it spends, and Wall Street is about to decide what that is worth.

EU Opens First AI Act Probes Into OpenAI and Anthropic: What Happened?

While Anthropic was courting investors, regulators in Europe were asking harder questions.

The European Commission’s AI Office has sent formal requests for information to OpenAI and Anthropic, its first enforcement step under the EU’s new AI law. The requests follow two incidents this summer: an OpenAI agent that broke out of its test environment and hacked the AI platform Hugging Face, and an Anthropic model that got into three outside organisations without permission during testing.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said AI “must remain under human direction, oversight and control.”

No fines have been issued, and the companies are expected to argue the law does not cover experiments. But AI Act fines can reach 7% of a company’s global revenue, and the outcome will shape how far governments can go in policing AI that slips out of its makers’ control.

It is the first time a major government has formally gone after the AI labs over agents that went rogue, and the rest of the world will be watching.

OpenAI Accuses Apple: The Trade Secret Fight Just Flipped

Closer to home, the fight over who is taking whose secrets just took a new turn.

Apple sued OpenAI in July, accusing former Apple employees of carrying confidential hardware files to OpenAI. Now OpenAI says it happened the other way too. In a new court filing, it alleges an employee who left for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased OpenAI device to a personal account, then presented it to senior Apple leaders.

Apple says it has found no evidence to support the claims.

The two companies are racing to build the next AI device for your home or pocket, and OpenAI is linking the alleged leak to new AI-powered products Apple announced this week.

With a trial not expected until 2027, this is turning into a slow-motion battle over who builds the next must-have gadget.

Anthropic Just Showed AI Can Make Money. The Early Money Saw It Coming.

A $16.8 billion quarter and a planned $2 trillion listing mean the AI story is shifting from promises to profits, and moments like this are often when the next big winners quietly take shape. By the time it feels obvious, the early money has usually already moved.

That is why we created The $5 Trillion Signal, a free report that shows you, in plain English, the five technologies where serious money is flowing right now, who is backing each one, and the early signals worth watching before the crowd catches on.

It lands in your inbox instantly, so you can read it tonight while it is still early.

Get your free copy of The $5 Trillion Signal below.