Amazon Invests $4B in AI Startup Anthropic to Charge AI Model Development
Summary:
Amazon has invested $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic to boost the development of new high-performing foundation models. In return, Anthropic will provide enhanced support for Amazon Bedrock, offering secure customization and refinement options for businesses. The agreement also gives Amazon a minority stake in Anthropic, although this will not affect its governance structure. The investment follows a recent $100 million investment from SK Telecom, revealing Anthropic's growing importance in AI development and regulation circles.
In a new investment deal finalized between e-commerce giant Amazon and artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, Amazon has pledged $4 billion to boost research and development of groundbreaking foundational models. Anthropic has shared details of the agreement on X, previously known as Twitter, stating that the funds will give them access to Amazon's web services (AWS), specifically Trainium and Inferentia chips. In a reciprocal gesture, Anthropic will augment support for Amazon's Bedrock, a producer of foundational models, providing businesses with secure customization and refinement options. This would also enable Amazon's teams to employ Bedrock for developing over Anthropic's models.
Moreover, part of the agreement stipulates that Amazon will acquire a "minority stake" in Anthropic, which asserts that this will not upset its governance structure. To mitigate the risks associated with increasingly advanced AI systems, Anthropic plans to implement pre-deployment tests for new models. Composed of ex-team members of Microsoft-funded OpenAI, known for their AI chatbot ChatGPT, is the innovative team behind Anthropic.
The investment from Amazon follows hot on the heels of a $100 million infusion from South Korean telecom titan SK Telecom in August. Prior to this, SK Telecom and Anthropic had collaborated to create a multilingual large language model (LLM) intended for the former's Telco AI Platform.
Anthropic has been at the center of key developments in the AI field recently. It aligned with Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and others in July to form the self-governing "Frontier Model Forum", targeted at directing the development of AI from within. Additionally, it is involved in projects headed by the US government concerning AI development and regulation, which includes a cybersecurity challenge aiming to bolster its "critical infrastructure".
Published At
9/25/2023 1:08:37 PM
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