Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has taken a major step towards a public market debut, announcing that it has confidentially filed paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering (IPO), AP reported.The company said the filing gives it the option to go public after the SEC completes its review process, though the timing of the offering will depend on market conditions and other factors. Anthropic has not yet disclosed the number of shares it plans to offer or the proposed price range.The IPO move comes days after Anthropic announced that it had raised $65 billion in private funding, pushing its valuation to $965 billion and making the five-year-old company one of the world’s most valuable startups.The maker of the Claude chatbot said it is generating annualised revenue of $47 billion from customers using its AI technology for coding, workplace tasks and personal assistance. The latest valuation places Anthropic ahead of chief rival OpenAI in both market value and reported revenue.Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic has rapidly emerged as one of the leading players in the AI industry. Along with OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the company is among a group of high-profile technology firms expected to eventually become publicly traded.Despite soaring valuations and investor interest, all three companies continue to spend more money than they generate, fuelling debate among analysts about whether the current enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence could be creating a market bubble