Anthropic gives lesson in AI revenue hallucination

https://www.reuters.com/commentary/breakingviews/anthropic-gives-lesson-ai-revenue-hallucination-2026-03-10/

by latinodev • 4 months ago

4 3 4 months ago

latinodev• 4 months ago

"In a court filing[0], Anthropic Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao said revenue has exceeded “$5 billion to date.” This figure sits awkwardly beside the Claude developer’s “run-rate” claims: $14 billion, opens new tab as of February 12, rising to $19 billion by month’s end."

[0] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.46...

SilverElfin• 4 months ago

This doesn’t mean anything is wrong. I honestly can’t understand what the author of the Reuters article is even trying to manufacture here. They go on to explain exactly why the numbers can both be correct:

The $5 billion figure refers to GAAP revenue generated from 2023 through to December 2025, a person familiar with the matter told Breakingviews; the $19 billion is an extrapolation. Anthropic defines “run-rate revenue” in two parts. Use the last 28 days of sales from customers charged on a consumption basis and multiply it by 13. Then, multiply the monthly subscription take by 12, and add the two together.

If anything, it suggests they’re seeing either existing customers increasing their spending or new customers coming to Anthropic in higher and higher numbers.

rogerkirkness• 4 months ago

Yeah one is historical revenue, and one is projected revenue, and it doesn't sound like the definitions are mutually exclusive or incompatible.

Anthropic gives lesson in AI revenue hallucination

Related Stories