Anthropic’s IPO and the Future of AI: Three Insights from Smith Experts
As Anthropic prepares to go public under the ticker "ANT," three faculty members at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business explore what the company's landmark IPO filing reveals about the future of AI. Anthropic has filed its S-1 prospectus after a period of explosive growth, reporting $16.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2026 while committing more than $400 billion to the computing infrastructure needed to develop and run advanced AI models.
Expanding Markets or Capturing Share? The Competitive Effects of Subscriptions on Spending in Restaurant Delivery
Subscription programs are increasingly central to platform strategy, but their effects on competitors and category demand remain unclear. The authors study restaurant delivery subscriptions using individual-level transaction data on Postmates Unlimited, the first widely available U.S. subscription program in the category, and DoorDash's later DashPass program.
Could Prediction Markets Be a New Hedge Against Business Risk?
A recent disclosure from prediction market platform Kalshi offers a glimpse into a potentially emerging approach to business risk management: using event-based markets to hedge against revenue losses tied to uncertain outcomes.
OpenAI Taps Smith’s Daniel McCarthy to Help Evaluate ChatGPT’s New Personal Finance Tools
OpenAI’s latest expansion of ChatGPT—new personal finance features now available in preview for U.S. ChatGPT Pro subscribers—marks a significant step in the company’s push toward specialized AI assistants. And Associate Professor of Marketing Daniel McCarthy at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business had a front-row seat. As a member of OpenAI’s early testing group for the new tools, McCarthy provided feedback on how consumers might use conversational AI to navigate complex financial decisions.
New Study Finds AI Assistant Market Isn’t Zero-Sum as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude All Grow
A new study finds AI assistants are expanding the market, not competing in a zero-sum race. Researchers identify scale, ecosystem and premium strategies driving growth, but warn coexistence may fade as expansion slows, capital tightens and competitive pressures reshape the industry.
Smith Professors Make Sense of March Madness Marketing Trends and AI-Involvement in Bracket Building
Despite few upsets, the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments remain compelling, with millions tracking brackets. One perfect bracket remains. Smith professors Henry C. Boyd III and Daniel McCarthy discuss AI, marketing trends, NIL and fan behavior.
Three Strategic Bets on AI’s Future
This paper examines competition in the consumer AI assistant market using worldwide iOS and Android app-store data from seven major AI assistants from May 2023 through December 2025. Rather than finding a winner-take-all market, we show that major product launches tend to coincide with growth in the overall category, with little evidence of direct cannibalization across leading models. In other words, the “AI war” appears less zero-sum than commonly assumed.
Tracking-Based Advertising After Apple's App Tracking Transparency: Firm-Level Evidence and Policy Implications
We discuss the impact of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency's (“ATT”) on targeted, online advertising. We overview the empirical results of Aridor, Che, Hollenbeck, Kaiser & McCarthy (2025) that measured the impact of ATT on e-commerce firms. The results point to a large reduction in the efficacy of targeted advertising and subsequently large revenue losses, borne primarily by smaller firms.
Business Meets Journalism: UMD Experts Tackle Local News Crisis
Smith School and Merrill College faculty joined journalists to explore innovative business models, AI tools and cross-disciplinary solutions to help local news organizations adapt to declining revenue, shrinking readership and the disruptive impact of digital platforms.
Name That Tune: Smith Professor Combines Academic Rigor, Entrepreneurial Application and Musical Innovation
Associate Professor Daniel McCarthy blends rigorous research with creative teaching tools—like music—to make marketing analytics memorable. His focus on customer-based valuation, real-world applications, and student engagement helps transform complex concepts into impactful, real-life learning experiences.