Internet giant Amazon has announced that it will invest up to $4 billion in cash in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic. The announcement comes as the world’s biggest technology companies race to benefit from AI breakthroughs that could reshape parts of their businesses. Anthropic is seen as one of the most promising AI startups, which like Google’s Bard and Microsoft-backed OpenAI also operates an AI-powered, text analyzing chatbot. With the investment Amazon is trying to keep pace with rivals Microsoft and Google, which have each poured billions into AI technology.
Under the deal, Amazon’s employees and cloud customers will get early access to technology from Anthropic, which they can infuse into their businesses. The San Francisco-based startup has also committed to rely primarily on Amazon’s cloud services, including training its future AI models on large quantities of proprietary chips it would buy from the online retailing and computing giant. “We can help improve many customer experiences, short- and long-term, through our deeper collaboration,” Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, said in a statement.
Why it’s good news for the entire technology industry
As part of the investment agreement, Anthropic will use Amazon’s cloud giant AWS as a primary cloud provider for mission-critical workloads, including safety research and future foundation model development, the e-commerce group said. Anthropic has said it will “build, train and deploy” its new models using Amazon’s Trainium and Inferentia computer chips. Amazon reportedly hopes to position these as an alternative to those made by Nvidia, the company which has been one of the biggest success stories of the big boost in AI technology. Nvidia’s stock has risen nearly 190% this year due to huge demand for its chips from companies investing millions in AI. Now the very prospect of a viable competitor is good news to the entire sector. As a report in Bloomberg said, “If Anthropic, an AI frontrunner, can build and run cutting-edge models on Amazon’s chips, it sends a strong signal that Nvidia’s absolute dominance in AI won’t last forever. That’s excellent news for those who want to see development of this technology continue apace.”
“Amazon hopes it can offer some differentiation over competitors by leaning on Anthropic’s work around trust and safety. The team — which numbers around 190 — first came into existence when a number of OpenAI employees broke away over concerns about the company’s ethical direction,” added the report.
What we don’t know
There’s still a lot unknown about the specifics of Amazon’s investment. Both the companies did not say as to how much Amazon would own of Anthropic, or the startup’s updated valuation. Anthropic was last valued at almost $5 billion earlier this year
Like OpenAI, Anthropic is a developer of so-called generative AI, the technology capable of learning from vast amounts of data to create humanlike texts and images. These tools are seen as possessing the potential to automate many tasks, reshaping aspects of the global economy.
Under the deal, Amazon’s employees and cloud customers will get early access to technology from Anthropic, which they can infuse into their businesses. The San Francisco-based startup has also committed to rely primarily on Amazon’s cloud services, including training its future AI models on large quantities of proprietary chips it would buy from the online retailing and computing giant. “We can help improve many customer experiences, short- and long-term, through our deeper collaboration,” Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, said in a statement.
Why it’s good news for the entire technology industry
As part of the investment agreement, Anthropic will use Amazon’s cloud giant AWS as a primary cloud provider for mission-critical workloads, including safety research and future foundation model development, the e-commerce group said. Anthropic has said it will “build, train and deploy” its new models using Amazon’s Trainium and Inferentia computer chips. Amazon reportedly hopes to position these as an alternative to those made by Nvidia, the company which has been one of the biggest success stories of the big boost in AI technology. Nvidia’s stock has risen nearly 190% this year due to huge demand for its chips from companies investing millions in AI. Now the very prospect of a viable competitor is good news to the entire sector. As a report in Bloomberg said, “If Anthropic, an AI frontrunner, can build and run cutting-edge models on Amazon’s chips, it sends a strong signal that Nvidia’s absolute dominance in AI won’t last forever. That’s excellent news for those who want to see development of this technology continue apace.”
“Amazon hopes it can offer some differentiation over competitors by leaning on Anthropic’s work around trust and safety. The team — which numbers around 190 — first came into existence when a number of OpenAI employees broke away over concerns about the company’s ethical direction,” added the report.
What we don’t know
There’s still a lot unknown about the specifics of Amazon’s investment. Both the companies did not say as to how much Amazon would own of Anthropic, or the startup’s updated valuation. Anthropic was last valued at almost $5 billion earlier this year
Like OpenAI, Anthropic is a developer of so-called generative AI, the technology capable of learning from vast amounts of data to create humanlike texts and images. These tools are seen as possessing the potential to automate many tasks, reshaping aspects of the global economy.