Amazon to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic


Amazon has agreed to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic, both companies said, as the e-commerce group steps up its rivalry against Microsoft, Meta, Google and Nvidia in the fast-growing sector. Many technologists believe that could be the next great frontier.

The e-commerce group said it would initially invest $1.25 billion for a minority stake in Anthropic, which also operates AI-powered, text analysis chatbots like Google’s Bard and Microsoft-backed OpenAI. As part of the deal, Amazon said it has the option to increase its investment in Anthropic to a total of $4 billion.

TechCrunch exclusively reported earlier this year that Anthropic, which also counts Google as an investor, plans to raise up to $5 billion over the next two years. Anthropic, which launched its first consumer-facing premium subscription plan earlier this month for chatbot Cloud 2, plans to build a “frontier model” — tentatively called “cloud-next” — Which is 10 times more capable than today’s most powerful AI, according to a 2023 investor deck TechCrunch obtained earlier this year.

But the startup cautioned that the growth would require spending $1 billion over the next 18 months. (Microsoft has invested more than $11 billion in OpenAI over the past few years.)

In Amazon, Anthropic has found a deep-pocketed strategic investor who can also provide it with the compute power to build future AI models and then help sell them to multiple cloud customers.

As part of the investment agreement, Anthropic will use Amazon’s cloud giant AWS as the primary cloud provider for mission critical workloads, including security research and future Foundation model development, the e-commerce group said. Anthropic will additionally use AWS Tranium and Inferentia chips to build, train, and deploy its future Foundation models. (Anthropic has been an AWS customer since 2021.)

Amazon believes it can help improve many customer experiences, both in the short and long term, “through our deepened collaboration” with Anthropic, Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said in a statement. .

“Customers are excited about Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s new managed service that enables companies to use different Foundation models to build generic AI applications, as well as AWS Trainium, AWS’s AI training chip, and Anthropic “Our collaboration with should help customers get even more value from these two capabilities.”

Anthropic – which also includes Spark Capital, Salesforce, Sound Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Zoom – has raised a total of $2.7 billion to date. The startup was valued at around $5 billion in May this year, when it secured $450 million in a funding round. It did not say how Amazon valued Anthropic in the new investment.

The deal with Anthropic allows Amazon, which is growing its strength around AI, to build a massive warchest in the fast-growing industry.

AI earnings calls mentions

Image and data: Goldman Sachs

Anthropic chief executive and co-founder Dario Amodei told the TechCrunch Disrupt audience last week that he doesn’t see any disruption on the horizon for his company’s core technology.

“Over the last 10 years, the scale that we use to train neural nets has grown significantly, and we keep growing them, and they keep working better and better,” he said last week. ” “That’s the basis of my feeling that what we’re going to see in the next 2, 3, 4 years … is going to pale in comparison to what we see today.”

Anthropic has made a “long-term” commitment to provide AWS customers around the world access to future generations of its Foundation models through Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service from AWS that provides secure access to the industry’s top Foundation models. Is. Additionally, Anthropic will provide AWS customers with early access to unique features for model optimization and fine-tuning capabilities.

“Training state-of-the-art models requires extensive resources, including compute power and research programs. Amazon’s investment and the supply of AWS Trainium and Inferentia technology will ensure we are equipped to push the limits of AI security and research forward, Anthropic said in a statement. “We look forward to working together with Amazon to drive responsible mass adoption of the cloud and provide secure AI cloud technology to organizations around the world.”

Leave a Comment

“The Untold Story: Yung Miami’s Response to Jimmy Butler’s Advances During an NBA Playoff Game” “Unveiling the Secrets: 15 Astonishing Facts About the PGA Championship”