Big Short investor Steve Eisman claims AI executives are manufacturing a "doomsday crisis" to protect their businesses, as competitive pressure mounts on Anthropic to release a new model.

Eisman argued on Friday that companies like Anthropic and OpenAI cannot afford to slow down despite public calls for caution, citing hundreds of billions of dollars in commitments to hyperscalers. He suggested the push for regulation is designed to establish barriers to entry and preserve pricing power against cheaper alternatives.

Competitive Pressure on Anthropic

Anthropic is evaluating a new model aimed at countering OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra, according to Reuters. This development comes days after CEO Dario Amodei called for the industry to slow improvements in AI capabilities, a stance backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The competitive landscape is shifting rapidly. OpenAI’s Astra accounted for about 13% of enterprise AI spending tracked by Ramp, compared with 8% for Anthropic’s Claude Fable. Additionally, OpenAI overtook Anthropic last week on OpenRouter, marking the first time it led in spending there in more than two-and-a-half years.

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META), one of Anthropic’s largest customers, is looking to reduce its reliance on Anthropic models as it builds internal AI capabilities. Meta recently launched Muse, its first personal AI agent, powered by its most capable model to date.

Eisman’s Moat Argument

Eisman stated there are "no pricing moats" in the business, noting that open-weight models allow developers to download and run systems independently. He expects these models to drive a price war, challenging the sustainability of proprietary systems.

He warned that if Anthropic or OpenAI were to fail, the broader AI infrastructure buildout, including Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA), could face significant disruption. Nvidia is considering investing up to $10 billion as an anchor investor in Anthropic’s planned IPO.

IPO Details and Market Sentiment

Anthropic is preparing what could be the largest IPO ever, potentially raising $100 billion at a valuation around $2 trillion. This would roughly double its $965 billion valuation from a May funding round.

Polymarket traders give Anthropic a 78% chance of going public by December 31, with about $3.7 million traded on the timing market. Reuters reported Anthropic may wait until after November’s U.S. midterm elections to list.

What the Numbers Show

Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate exceeded $65 billion by the end of July, up from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025. This rapid growth contrasts with Eisman’s warning of impending price wars driven by open-weight models and competitors like OpenAI. The divergence between high market confidence in a successful listing and the intensifying competitive pressure highlights the risk to future margins if pricing power erodes.

Anthropic has established a physical biology facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, moving its artificial intelligence efforts in life sciences from computational models to hands-on experimentation.

Two people familiar with the plans told Reuters that the company built a wet lab. Eric Kauderer-Abrams, Anthropic’s life sciences leader, confirmed the facility. The company aims to test AI-generated ideas through real-world experiments, particularly for treatments targeting rare diseases.

Operational Strategy

Anthropic is combining internal laboratory work with external collaborations, mirroring the operational model of many biotechnology companies. A spokesperson clarified that the facility is not exclusively dedicated to drug discovery and declined to provide further details on its scope.

The company is also exploring AI-driven laboratory automation. Claude models are being developed to operate automated lab systems, with robots executing experiments while humans oversee safety protocols. Kauderer-Abrams described this as the "very early innings" of using AI to automate lab execution.

Market Position and Partnerships

Anthropic does not intend to compete directly with pharmaceutical or biotech companies focused on bringing drugs to market. The company is not conducting clinical trials but plans to focus on preclinical programs in areas lacking sufficient commercial incentive for traditional drugmakers.

Simultaneously, Anthropic provides AI services to established drugmakers including Roche’s Genentech, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novo Nordisk. In August, the company introduced the Model Hardware Standard to facilitate interaction between AI systems and laboratory equipment.

What the Numbers Show

Hiring data indicates a shift toward operational scale. Job listings seek expertise in protein and nucleic acid characterization and leadership in procurement and operations. One listing explicitly stated the goal to "speed up progress in the life sciences by an order of magnitude," signaling an aggressive timeline for integrating AI into physical biological workflows.