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Amazon announced Wednesday that it has added $2.75 billion to its investment in Anthropic, a startup that competes with companies such as OpenAI and Google in the race to build cutting-edge AI systems.
Six months ago, Amazon invested $1.25 billion in Anthropic, making the San Francisco startup its most important AI partner. Amazon said at the time that it had options for a total investment of $4 billion. The deadline to do so was until the end of March, according to the financial report.
Still, the additional investment shows that the tech company is pouring significant resources into AI, and shows how much financial support Anthropic needs to keep pace with its peers.
“We believe this strategic partnership with Anthropic will further enhance the customer experience and we look forward to seeing what the future holds,” Amazon executive Swami Sivasubramanian said in a blog post announcing the investment. .
Anthropic has sold off most of its controversial investor stake while moving closer to Amazon. Last week, a federal judge granted bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX approval to sell its Anthropic stock. In 2021, FTX invested $500 million in AI startups, accounting for approximately 8% of the stake.
Since then, the value of that investment has ballooned. Anthropic’s rating triples The New York Times reported in February that it had reached $15 billion in just one year.
Anthropic was launched in 2021 by a group of researchers at OpenAI who developed the ChatGPT chatbot. At the time, many of these researchers were concerned that OpenAI was approaching Microsoft in a partnership that would ultimately be worth $13 billion.
Anthropic has been steadily raising money, as developing the basic systems for generative AI requires deep pockets to both hire staff and acquire computing power.
Amazon’s investment in Anthropic is more than just a stock investment. Similar to Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, this includes efforts to gain access to AI systems and provide computing power. However, this does not extend to high-value acquisitions that could trigger antitrust review. The Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into whether these types of large-scale AI deals are hindering competition. (The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems.)
In a key part of the partnership, Anthropic agreed to build its AI using specialized computer chips designed by Amazon. Amazon said it looks forward to Anthropic supporting efforts to meet cutting-edge demands in AI and collaborate on the design of specialized chips.
Amazon also has an early chance to make Anthropic’s AI models available to customers of its cloud computing services, announcing this month that it will provide access to its most powerful Anthropic model, known as Claude 3. Did.
FTX’s bankruptcy estate has agreed to sell about two-thirds of its stake in the startup for $884 million. The majority of the shares were transferred to ATIC Third International Investment, a company associated with the UAE sovereign wealth fund.
Other potential buyers included quantitative trading firm Jane Street and the philanthropic organization Ford Foundation. Darren Walker, the foundation’s president, said in an interview that he views Anthropic as a significant competitor to OpenAI.
“The fact that Anthropic is emerging and becoming a strong competitor is good for the market and good for the public and the public interest,” Walker said.
David Yaffe Bellany Contributed to the report.
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