San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – Amazon on Monday said it pumped another $5 billion into Anthropic as it ramps up its collaboration with the startup behind Claude artificial intelligence. The e-commerce and cloud computing colossus noted that the investment builds on $8 billion it had already invested in Anthropic, according to the companies. Amazon added that it could invest $20 billion more in Anthropic, provided the startup meets certain performance goals.
For its part, San Francisco-based Anthropic said it has committed to spending more than $100 billion on Amazon Web Services (AWS) technology to power AI in the coming decade. “We need to build the infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly growing demand,” Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said in a release. “Our collaboration with Amazon will allow us to continue advancing AI research while delivering Claude to our customers.”
Anthropic said in early April that it had tripled its annualized revenues quarter-on-quarter to over $30 billion — outpacing OpenAI for the first time. Amodei visited US officials last week at the White House, where they struck a different tone from the dispute that erupted in February, when the AI startup infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems.
“We discussed opportunities for collaboration, as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology,” a White House spokesperson told AFP. The rhetoric marks a departure from months earlier when President Donald Trump instructed the US government to “immediately cease” using Anthropic’s technology after the company refused to allow the Pentagon unconditional use of its Claude AI models.
Anthropic has challenged the Trump administration in court, as well as Hegseth’s move to add the company to a list of firms that pose a “supply chain risk.” Earlier this month, Anthropic announced its newest AI model Mythos, withholding it from public release due to its potential cybersecurity risks.
© 2024 AFP
