Shadowing Practice: I read Anthropic's 92-page risk factor document, so you don't have to | Explainer - Learn English Speaking with Video
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There are some big questions surrounding the AI boom.
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Is this a bubble?
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How risky are these companies?
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Are they even making money?
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Will AI lead to the end of the world?
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Luckily for us, we just got this.
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It's Anthropics filing to go public on the U .S stock market
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and it gives us a good look under the hood of the company that created Claude.
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Now I've read through every page so you don't have to and here's what I found.
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First, let's look at the money.
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16 .3 billion dollars in revenue is how much Anthropic made in the first half of 2026.
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That's explosive growth compared to the 4 .5 billion dollars they made in all of 2025.
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And Anthropic was just founded five years ago.
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That seems like a lot until you see this number, 80 billion dollars.
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That's how much money they've spent in the first six months of this year.
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So here we learn that one, Anthropic is billions of dollars away from being profitable.
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And two, running an AI company is very, very expensive.
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The report goes on to say that securing computing power makes up a vast majority of Anthropic's costs,
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and that the market for compute is intensely competitive.
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Next, let's look at the 92 -page risk section of the document, where Anthropic acknowledges the threats AI poses to humanity,
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including, in their words, meaningful assistance to malicious actors seeking to develop chemical, biological, or other dangerous weapons,
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and AI being used by authoritarian governments to deepen repression and develop high -tech surveillance states.
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The document even acknowledges AI -enabled catastrophic events, the sort of doomsday scenario Anthropic employees have been warning about.
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Anthropic said that advanced AI models, including its own, might manipulate information, try to influence human decision makers, or resist attempts to shut the system down.
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While the company does employ technical safeguards, it goes on to acknowledge that those safeguards are incomplete,
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and in the future, they may fail to operate as intended.
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Finally, economic risks.
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The company states that a lot of their revenue is driven by only a few customers.
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They note that their top five customers represented approximately a quarter of their revenue.
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So any loss or decrease in spending from just one top customer could have a huge negative impact on the company's finances.
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Anthropic also mentions that its business is extremely vulnerable to U .S regulatory changes, particularly restrictions on data center development or expansion,
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including permitting, zoning, or limits on energy or water usage.
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That means that all of those data center protests
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that have spurned bans or moratoriums across the U .S might have a significant impact on these businesses.
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With all of that in mind, investors still see incredible potential as the company is reportedly expected to hit a valuation of around $1 .5 trillion.
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How Anthropic does
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when it hits the market will test the financial viability of the multi -trillion dollar AI boom that we are living through.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “I read Anthropic's 92-page risk factor document, so you don't have to”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Anthropic, dollar, billion, acknowledge, customer. This video has 37 sentences and 492 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:58. The speaker talks at a natural 166 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| acknowledge verb | /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/ | To admit the knowledge of; to recognize as a fact or truth; to declare one's belief in. |
| boom verb | /bum/ | To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound. |
| safeguard verb | /ˈseɪfɡɑːd/ | To protect, to keep safe. |
| vast adjective | /væst/ | Very large or wide (literally or figuratively). |
| compare verb | /kəmˈpɛɚ/ | To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it… |
| protest noun | /ˈpɹoʊ.tɛst/ | A formal objection, especially one by a group. |
| humanity noun | /hjuˈmænɪti/ | Humankind; human beings as a group. |
| biological adjective | /ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/ | Of or relating to biology. |
| enable verb | /ɪˈneɪ.bəl/ | To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to. |
| maker noun | /ˈmeɪk.ɚ/ | Someone who makes; a person or thing that makes or produces something. |
| regulatory adjective | /ˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.lə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/ | Of or pertaining to regulation. |
| usage noun | /ˈjuːsɪd͡ʒ/ | A custom or established practice. |
| vulnerable adjective | /ˈvʌln(ə)ɹəbl̩/ | More or most likely to be exposed to the chance of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. |
| resist verb | /ɹɪˈzɪst/ | To attempt to counter the actions or effects of. |
| scenario noun | /sɪˈnɛəɹioʊ/ | An outline or model of an expected or supposed sequence of events. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| live through verb | To survive a difficult period or event | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
| read through verb | To thoroughly read something to check or proofread it. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was just founded · being used · is driven |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've read · they've spent · have spurned |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I've, they've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: restriction /ɹɪˈstɹɪkʃən/, valuation /ˌvæ.ljuːˈeɪ.ʃən/, malicious /məˈlɪʃəs/, repression /ɹəˈpɹɛʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: humanity /hjuˈmænɪti/, biological /ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/, regulatory /ˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.lə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/, reportedly /ɹɪˈpɔːtɪdli/, valuation /ˌvæ.ljuːˈeɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like acknowledge, boom, safeguard.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.