Anthropic Files for Historic IPO

Welcome to another edition of AI PlanetX.

Anthropic files for IPO after an $80.7B loss; AI agents breach its systems in 12 hours as Meta seeks $95B for AI infrastructure with Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom.

• Hottest AI News

• Top AI & SaaS Tools

• AI Tutorial: Find and Cut Unnecessary Subscriptions

• Top AI & Tech News

• AI Art Spotlight

• Prompt of the Day: Make Any AI Model Smarter Prompt

• Featured Video

• Course of the Day: Intro to Modern AI by Cisco

Hottest AI News

Anthropic

Anthropic Files for IPO After Reporting an $80.7 Billion Net Loss

Anthropic has just made one of the biggest moves in AI. Claude's creator has filed for an IPO and reports suggest it could raise as much as $100 billion - potentially breaking the record for the biggest stock-market debut.

Details:

• On October 26, Anthropic submitted its public S-1 filing to the SEC. It plans to list shares on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, though the offering has not launched or received approval

• The filing revealed $16.3 billion in revenue during the first six months of 2026, up from about $1.2 billion in the same period last year - an extraordinary jump

• It also disclosed an $80.7 billion six-month net loss. But $72.4 billion came from accounting revaluations of convertible notes and related instruments, not ordinary operating expenses

The IPO could rewrite fundraising history, but nothing is locked in yet. Anthropic has not finalized its share count, offering price or IPO size.

50 Excel Hacks That Make Spreadsheets Work For You

Most Excel users waste hours on tasks that take experts minutes. The difference is not talent. It is knowing the right shortcuts.

These 50 Excel hacks from Kenji Explains cover the functions, formulas, and workflows that make spreadsheets work for you instead of against you.

Each one comes with step-by-step instructions and ready-to-use templates. Subscribe to Marketing Against the Grain and get all 50 free.

Here's what you'll get:

• Time-saving shortcuts that eliminate the most common formula frustrations

• Interface essentials most users never discover on their own

• Game-changing functions for data analysis, automation, and visualization

• Guided practice template so you can apply every hack immediately

The people who are fast in Excel are not smarter. They just stopped fighting the tool.

Get 50 Excel Hacks free when you subscribe to Marketing Against the Grain today.

Get The Guide

Rogue Agent

AI Agents Hacked Anthropic's Internal Systems in Under 12 Hours

AI agents found a way into Anthropic's internal systems in under 12 hours. Cybersecurity startup Cathedral uncovered the paths during an authorized security test, raising questions about risks from business software.

Details:

• Cathedral's agents exploited weaknesses in third-party software used for sales and administration. Anthropic says the startup first spent several days unsuccessfully targeting its software

• Cathedral found salary and job-offer details, meeting transcripts, and Slack chats about models. Anthropic confirmed limited exposure of HR, sales and IT data, including business contacts

• Anthropic says customer conversations, Claude responses, model code and weights remained untouched. It flagged the activity, blocked further entry that day, and disabled the software

Anthropic found no evidence of other exploitation but said Cathedral did not report all activity. The incident highlights risks of third-party apps.

Top AI & SaaS Tools

• Acti AI (Life-time Deal): AI-powered mobile and desktop keyboard that combines dictation, translation, text rewriting, reusable snippets, and no-code app automation

• Vowen: Speech-to-text, meeting transcription, file transcription, and voice-controlled editing with privacy-focused on-device processing [F-R-E-E]

• Boba: AI assistant that manages tasks, reminders, emails, reservations, and group plans via text and web chat [F-R-E-E]

• DeepCell: Generates connected documents, spreadsheets, financial analyses, and presentations from work requirements [F-R-E-E]

• IrisGo: Watches you perform tasks on your computer and turns them into repeatable AI automations [F-R-E-E]

Blu Dot surpasses 2,000% ROAS with self-serve CTV ads

Home furniture brand Blu Dot blew up on CTV with help from Roku Ads Manager. Here’s how:

After a test campaign reached 211,000 households and achieved 1,010% ROAS, the brand went all in to promote its annual sales event. It removed age and income constraints to expand reach and shifted budget to custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was strongest.

The results speak for themselves. As Blu Dot increased their investment by 10x, ROAS jumped to 2,308% and more page-view conversions surpassed 50,000.

“For CTV campaigns, Roku has been a top performer,” said Claire Folkestad, Paid Media Strategist, Blu Dot. “Comping to our other platforms, we have seen really strong ROAS… and highly efficient CPMs, lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with.”

Using Roku Ads Manager, the campaign moved from a pilot to a permanent performance engine for the brand.

Learn More

AI Tutorial

How to Find Subscriptions You’re Wasting Money On

You may be paying for tools you barely use without realizing it. This workflow shows which recurring charges deserve another look.

1. Create a receipt inbox

   In Gmail, create a label called Receipts.

   Add filters for subscription emails from Stripe, PayPal, Apple, Google Play, SaaS tools, or terms like “receipt,” “invoice,” and “payment confirmation.”

   This gives Claude one clean place to check.

2. Connect Gmail to Claude

   Connect Gmail from Claude’s connectors.

   Claude can then search and read the receipt emails it needs.

   Keep the workflow focused on the Receipts label instead of your whole inbox.

3. Build a subscription ledger

   Ask Claude to create a ledger containing: Vendor, Charge date, Amount, Billing cycle, Gmail message ID, Status, Notes

4. Mark what you actually use

   Review the ledger once and mark each subscription:

   Keep / Review / Paused / Cancelled

   Add short notes when useful, such as:

   “Just needed for Project X.”

   or

   “Already paying for a similar tool.”

   This gives Claude context when it reviews future charges.

5. Schedule the weekly audit

   Create a weekly scheduled task in Claude and use:

   “Search Gmail label:Receipts for receipts from the last 8 days.

   Extract the vendor, amount, charge date, billing cycle, and Gmail message ID.

   Skip receipts already recorded in my subscription ledger.

   Add new charges, then flag:

   - New recurring subscriptions

   - Price increases

   - Possible duplicate tools

   - Charges marked Paused or Cancelled

   - Tools that appear to serve the same purpose

   Calculate my current monthly recurring total.

   Finish with: New Charges, Monthly Total, Possible Waste, Price Changes, and Subscriptions to Review.”

6. Check the weekly report

   Claude can give you a simple report such as:

   Monthly subscriptions: $347

   Price increase: Tool A — $19 → $29

   Possible duplicate: Tool B + Tool C

   Review: Tool D — still charging after being marked Paused

   You decide what stays and what gets cancelled.

Note: Add the purpose of each subscription in the Notes column. Claude can then spot tools doing almost the same job.

Top AI & Tech News

• Meta plans to raise up to $95 billion for AI infrastructure, with Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom interested in participating

• China's AI-heavy STAR50 index has fallen around 40% in under four months, wiping out approximately $480 billion in market value

• Toyota plans to invest $6.4 billion annually in humanoid robots and factory automation to compete with Tesla and Chinese manufacturers

• Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 60,000 eligible employees across four countries as part of its AI restructuring

AI Art Spotlight

Create Your Own Product Photo Like This Using the Prompt Below:

3×3 grid (4:5) luxury campaign, product centered and consistent across all 9 shots. 1. Hero still life, 2. Macro texture, 3. Liquid/particles, 4. Minimal sculptural, 5. Floating, 6. Tactile close-up, 7. Color-driven, 8. Abstract ingredient, 9. Surreal fusion. Rules: No distortion or label changes, Clean background, Soft studio light, HDR, ultra-sharp, Cinematic premium editorial aesthetic.

Model: ChatGPT Images 2.5 / Nano Banana 2.1

Prompt of the Day

Make Any AI Model Smarter With One Prompt

This guide (login to X to view it) shows you how to make cheaper AI models perform better by transferring instructions and techniques from more powerful models. Use ready-to-use prompts and a Python script to extract, apply, and test these techniques, improve AI responses, preserve workflows, and reduce costs.

Featured Video

Claude 2.0 is Insane (All RECENT Updates Explained)

AI Course of the Day

Introduction to Modern AI by Cisco

Explore the fundamentals of AI with Cisco's beginner-friendly 6-hour course. Learn effective prompting, AI chatbots, computer vision, and machine translation while gaining practical skills to boost productivity and simplify everyday tasks.