OpenAI and Anthropic head for Wall Street: what SA radio heard

South African talk radio spent late May and early June tracking a remarkable shift in the artificial intelligence sector: both OpenAI and Anthropic confidentially filed paperwork to list on US stock markets, with Elon Musk's SpaceX days away from its own blockbuster debut. Presenters and market commentators across 702, Cape Talk, SAfm and Power FM framed the moves as a turning point — the moment the AI boom moves from private venture capital into the hands of ordinary investors.

The on-air debate quickly split. Some analysts welcomed the listings as overdue diversification and a way for retail investors to access companies that have built trillion-dollar valuations in just a few years. Others sounded dot-com era warnings, pointing to drained liquidity, narrow markets dominated by a handful of mega-stocks, and speculative pricing. Underneath it all was a simple question presenters kept returning to: how much capital does AI actually need, and who pays when the music stops?