Amazon Invests Billions in Anthropic to Bolster Its Position in the AI Race

Amazon is set to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic, an AI company that competes with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. By positioning itself as a competitor against companies like Microsoft and Alphabet-owned Google, this strategic move highlights Amazon's commitment to AI.

Anthropic, founded by former research leaders from OpenAI approximately two years ago, recently introduced its new AI chatbot, Claude 2. Amazon aims to leverage the potential of "generative AI," a field that includes technologies such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude robots.

In a joint announcement, Amazon and Anthropic revealed their partnership to advance generative AI. Anthropic will rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its primary cloud provider. AWS users will gain early access to exclusive features for customising models and making minor adjustments, enhancing the appeal of AWS for AI development.

Additionally, Anthropic will employ AWS's custom-designed semiconductors to train the foundation models underpinning its AI applications. Foundation models are substantial AI programmes trained on extensive data, enabling them to adapt to various tasks.

Nvidia, a chip manufacturer, has recently seen significant growth in the creative AI sector thanks in large part to its graphics processing units (GPUs), which are essential for training big AI models. Amazon's collaboration with Anthropic aims to showcase alternative chips suitable for AI applications.

Amazon Bedrock, a service enabling customers to build generative AI applications in the cloud using existing models rather than training their own, will facilitate AWS users in utilising Anthropic's AI models.

Amazon's aspiration is to establish itself as the go-to destination for AI solutions. The company produces its own AI chips for training extensive models and offers Amazon Bedrock for creating creative AI applications using pre-existing models in the Amazon cloud. Amazon also provides its AI software to customers.

Notably, other prominent companies like Google and Salesforce Ventures have already invested in Anthropic. This trend reflects tech giants' substantial commitments to AI companies, with Microsoft's multi-billion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, setting a precedent earlier this year.