Anthro-pocalypse Now 📈🤖

👀 TLDR

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover Anthropic’s upcoming IPO and accompanying S-1 Filing, which has turned heads with 100 pages dedicated to AI’s threats and risks to humanity. We also take a look at a new app that’s just perfect for the Vision Pro. There’s news on Elvis Presley’s Estate suing Anthropic, Instagram trying to emulate YouTube, the scramble to fix PHP vulnerabilities, a big row over AI on Reddit, and more.

🎬 Our Top Take

🤖📈 Anthropic – IPO Preparations Capture Zeitgeist of the AI Era

Anthropic’s long-awaited IPO (Initial Public Offering) is coming up in around two weeks. It's understandable to see a stalwart of the AI industry go public, but much of the lead-up feels abnormal. For starters, Anthropic’s S-1 filing (the brochure, if you will, that accompanies an IPO) has no fewer than 100 pages detailing AI’s threats, including risks to humanity itself. Some have taken a contrarian view, claiming that Anthropic’s tactic of talking about how dangerous its technology is is actually a clever marketing move, creating a sense of shock and awe about AI to bedazzle investors. Other curiosities underline these topsy-turvy times, not least the fact that Anthropic hemorrhages money. It made $80 billion in losses in the first half of this year. For context, that’s the equivalent of Bolivia’s GDP. There is also the fact that Anthropic has a broken relationship with the U.S. government and the Pentagon, with the former seeking to ban its use within federal agencies. Will that deter investors in a couple of weeks? Probably not. Everyone wants in on the hype. Moreover, while all the scary things associated with AI in Anthropic’s filing made the headlines, the filing was also incredibly bullish on the AI positives, claiming it will do an extraordinary amount of good. Let’s hope so. #AnthropicIPO Read more here.

📲 App of the Week: Christie’s Select App

Christie’s Select – an app from the famous auction house – does what you would kind of expect, letting you peruse a range of artworks and other valuables, from Ming vases to legendary guitars, from its venerable collection, both past and present. However, the big draw here is that the app has been specifically designed for spatial computing, or, in other words, the Apple Vision Pro. It’s pretty incredible, to be frank, allowing you to transform your home into a walkable museum. Most of us aren’t going to be able to afford Renoirs and Monets in our lifetimes, so this is the next best thing. Check it out for Vision Pro here.

🧐 Stat of the Week: 90 Mins

📈📉 Instagram – New Extended Video Format Aims to Reel In YouTube

Remember when every app wanted to emulate TikTok by jumping on the short-form video bandwagon? The opposite is now en trend. Instagram has today announced a program for long-form content, with creators able to make videos up to 90 minutes. The idea is to diversify from the “verticals” of short-form and start getting into YouTube’s longer-form market, as it excels at both. The continued growth of YouTube has been one of the underrated stories of the last couple of years. It has somewhere around 2.8 billion users. Everyone from Netflix to Instagram is looking on jealously. #LongForm Read more here.

🗞️ Other Stories

📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance

The Apple App Store is now receiving submissions from developers for new apps designed to work on the foldable screen of the iPhone Duo. We are excited to see what app creators come up with. And if any of you have an idea for an app for a foldable phone (or a non-foldable one, for that matter), why not drop us a line? Even if it’s a rough idea or basic concept, we can take you through some of the steps to help make it a reality.