Google has announced plans to invest more than $1 billion in Anthropic, an AI startup that competes with OpenAI in developing AI foundation models.
Key Points:
- New Investment: Google is making a fresh investment of over $1 billion into Anthropic, following earlier reports in January that the company was nearing a $2 billion funding round. This new investment is separate from that round, which is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and values Anthropic at around $60 billion.
- Existing Investment: This new infusion of capital comes on top of Google’s previous $2 billion commitment to the AI startup. Amazon also increased its stake in Anthropic to $8 billion late last year, reflecting growing interest in the company.
- Anthropic’s Growth: Anthropic has seen significant growth, with annualized revenue reaching approximately $875 million. The company sells access to its AI models both directly and through third-party cloud services like Amazon Web Services.
- AI Arms Race: The move by Google comes amid an intensifying competition in the AI sector, particularly since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022. The rapid rise of OpenAI has sparked an AI arms race, with major players investing heavily in AI technologies.
