New Delhi: Alphabet’s subsidiary Google has committed to invest a staggering $2 billion in Anthropic, the AI startup led by former OpenAI executives. This financial pledge encompasses an initial $500 million cash injection, with an additional $1.5 billion earmarked for future investments, according to a spokesperson from Anthropic, as reported by CNBC. The Wall Street Journal had previously hinted at this substantial funding endeavour.
Anthropic, the creative force behind Claude 2, a formidable challenger to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has already garnered adoption by major players like Slack, Notion, and Quora. Established in 2021, Anthropic’s valuation reached an impressive $4.1 billion, supported not only by Google but also by influential investors like Salesforce and Zoom.
Claude 2 boasts the remarkable ability to condense information spanning up to a whopping 75,000 words, equivalent to the length of a full book. Users can input extensive datasets and request concise summaries, whether in memo, letter, or narrative form. In stark contrast, ChatGPT can manage only a fraction of this word count, handling roughly 3,000 words.
Distinguished by its “self-awareness,” a vital attribute involving accurate self-assessment and responding solely to inquiries supported by training data, Claude 2 was hailed as the most reliable chatbot by Arthur AI, a prominent machine learning monitoring platform. Arthur AI conducted an extensive evaluation that included chatbots from Meta, Cohere, and OpenAI.
Google’s initial investment of $300 million in Anthropic in April secured a 10% stake in the company, setting the stage for this remarkable $2 billion commitment. In a testament to its prominence, Anthropic was one of only four companies invited to the White House in April for discussions on responsible AI development, engaging in high-level conversations with Vice President Kamala Harris. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, as well as Microsoft and OpenAI, were among the other participants in this exclusive meeting.
Founded by Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s former VP of research, along with his sister Daniela Amodei, who served as OpenAI’s VP of safety and policy, Anthropic has been nourished by a talented team that includes several other OpenAI research alums. Google’s monumental investment doesn’t merely underscore Anthropic’s potential but also sets the stage for a colossal showdown in the world of AI.
Anthropic’s financial fortunes took a swift and impressive turn in May when it secured an astounding $450 million in funding. This achievement marked a watershed moment, making it the most significant funding round in the AI industry since Microsoft’s substantial investment in OpenAI in January.
Anthropic, the mastermind behind the cutting-edge generative AI chatbot Claude, a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is on a quest for billions of dollars to fuel the evolution of its AI wizardry. In a spectacular display of investor confidence, the company has already raised a staggering $7 billion in funding just this year.
