Adapted by:
Javier Lacort
Senior WriterI write long-form content at Xataka about the intersection between technology, business and society. I also host the daily Spanish podcast Loop infinito (Infinite Loop), where we analyze Apple news and put it into perspective.
Karen Alfaro
WriterCommunications professional with a decade of experience as a copywriter, proofreader, and editor. As a travel and science journalist, I've collaborated with several print and digital outlets around the world. I'm passionate about culture, music, food, history, and innovative technologies.
AI development is spending money in unprecedented ways. Anthropic closed a $3.5 billion round that puts its valuation at more than $61 billion—an astronomical figure for a company with a great product but barely 2 million monthly active users and projected revenue of “only” $1.2 billion this year.
The numbers don’t add up. And that’s the point.
Anthropic’s problem isn’t the quality of its product. Claude is, in many ways, the most sophisticated AI assistant on the market. Its focus on safety and ethics, its warmer communication—so warm that even its background color contrasts with ChatGPT’s nuclear white—and its ability to hold coherent, in-depth conversations have made it a favorite among discerning users.
It’s really good. But being the best doesn’t guarantee victory in the tech industry, not even survival.
OpenAI has 400 million weekly active users because it built a dominant AI brand. Thanks to its advertising empire, Google has a Klapaucius of sorts, an infinite money trick. Elon Musk’s xAI uses the X platform and its CEO as a natural showcase. Microsoft has embedded its AI systems into its entire product ecosystem.
And Anthropic? It has a great product with poor distribution. It’s the perfect paradox: the best assistant that almost no one uses.
The history of technology is littered with superior products that ultimately lost to mediocre but better-positioned competitors. Betamax was technically superior to VHS. Apple’s Newton anticipated the iPhone. Netscape dominated the internet before being crushed by Internet Explorer.
It’s a classic standards war, where the winner isn’t necessarily the best product but the one that reaches the critical mass needed to become the industry standard.
The inconvenient reality is that a new AI model emerges every week. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta, xAI, DeepSeek, Perplexity, Mistral, Alibaba—the list goes on. And when the flow of venture capital stops—and it will—many won’t survive.
Analyst Ed Zitron puts it bluntly: Anthropic is “not a real company, cannot survive without venture welfare.” With losses of $5.6 billion last year, it’s hard to argue. Zitron omits that clinging to venture capital while operating in the red is routine for much of the tech industry, but he’s not wrong.
Anthropic’s strategy seems clear: position itself as the “more human” alternative to OpenAI’s “robot god” energy. Its demos include warm color corrections, soothing jazz music, and presenters who sound like normal people, not executives proclaiming accomplishments. It’s a smart approach. Will it be enough?
Perhaps Anthropic’s most probable fate is acquisition. An excellent product with little commercial traction is attractive to tech giants looking to improve their AI offerings. Apple, which has yet to show all its cards in this game, could be a logical buyer. However, its acquisition history suggests otherwise—its largest purchase was Beats 11 years ago, and it paid 20 times less than Anthropic’s current valuation.
In this oversaturated AI landscape, where models are almost indistinguishable to the average user, the question isn’t who has the best technology but who will survive when venture capital money runs out. And in that battle, having the best product won’t be enough.
Image | Anthropic
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