Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google has committed to a substantial investment in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup. This move intensifies the competition among tech giants and startups aiming for the next significant AI advancement.
Google’s recent commitment involves an initial $500 million, with plans to invest an additional $1.5 billion in the future, The Wall Street Journal reports. This comes on the heels of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s decision last month to pour $4 billion into Anthropic. The AI company, established by ex-OpenAI engineers in 2021, is focused on creating AI models that can rival those of OpenAI.
Earlier this year, Google had already funneled $550 million into Anthropic. This new agreement underscores the growing trend of tech behemoths partnering with AI enterprises. These AI companies require vast sums to enhance their AI systems further, WSJ reports.
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) has meanwhile invested $10 billion in OpenAI, the brains behind ChatGPT. This investment boosted the tech giant’s stake in OpenAI to 49%.
Anthropic’s inception was marked by the departure of its founders, siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, from OpenAI. With the backing of both Amazon and Google, Anthropic has amassed nearly $7 billion in the past year, WSJ reports.
Anthropic envisions a future dominated by AI, with tools that can revolutionize virtual assistants, search engines, and content creation for entertainment.
Google’s AI investments aren’t limited to Anthropic. According to the Journal, the tech giant has also funded AI startups like Runway and Hugging Face and has been developing its AI systems, including a yet-to-be-released algorithm named Gemini, intended to challenge ChatGPT’s technology.
Produced in association with Benzinga