Amazon weighs another multibillion-dollar bet on AI firm Anthropic
What's the story
Amazon is reportedly considering another multibillion-dollar investment in the artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic. The move comes as part of a strategy to strengthen their strategic partnership, the Financial Times reports. The e-commerce giant is said to be mulling over increasing its investment beyond the $8 billion it had already committed.
Previous funding
Existing stake in Anthropic
In November last year, Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic, a rival of OpenAI. This doubled Amazon's stake in the firm. The initial investment was $1.25 billion, followed by an additional $2.75 billion. The move was part of its strategy to leverage generative artificial intelligence technology. If the new investment goes through, it will allow Amazon to remain one of Anthropic's largest shareholders, ahead of Google, which has invested over $3 billion so far.
Strategic focus
Commitment to AI development
Dan Grossman, Amazon's VP of Worldwide Corporate Development, had previously said, "We quickly realized that we had many shared goals that were fundamentally critical. The size of the (existing investment) represents our ambition." This statement underscores Amazon's commitment to AI development. The company is working hard to improve its reputation in the field after rivals such as OpenAI and Google have already made significant strides with consumer-focused models.