Amazon has announced a major investment in artificial intelligence (AI) through a partnership with AI startup Anthropic. The online retail giant will invest up to $4 billion in the development of new generative AI models. This move reflects Amazon’s ongoing commitment to AI, which could potentially impact the devices we use and our shopping experiences.
The primary focus of the partnership will be to support Anthropic in the development of generative AI models. Amazon will provide access to its cloud services and microchips specifically designed for training language models. Once these models are ready, users of Amazon Web Services will have the opportunity to try them out through Amazon Bedrock, a service that assists companies and developers in building AI-powered apps.
One of Anthropic’s products, the chat bot Claude 2, has already been available in beta since July. It competes with Google’s Bard and OpenAI’s ChatGPT as a generative AI chat bot that can respond to questions, write documents, and assist with tasks like math and coding.
In addition to the financial investment, Amazon will also acquire a minority ownership position in Anthropic. This partnership aligns with Amazon’s recent focus on AI, which was highlighted at a recent event where the company showcased AI-powered improvements to its Alexa home devices, making the voice assistant more conversational and user-friendly.
Over the past year, Amazon has been expanding its use of AI in various aspects of its business, including web offerings, customer-facing services like Amazon Prime, and Alexa devices.
This investment by Amazon in Anthropic follows a trend of tech giants partnering with smaller AI-focused companies. Microsoft, for example, invested $10 billion in OpenAI earlier this year.
Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, has experienced success in funding rounds, including a multimillion dollar investment from Google. In July, Anthropic joined forces with OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft to form the Frontier Model Forum, aiming to ensure the safe and responsible development of AI models.
As generative AI tools gain prominence, there has been increased scrutiny regarding their potential risks and societal impacts. This partnership between Amazon and Anthropic reflects the industry’s commitment to addressing these concerns.
(Note: This article was written with the assistance of an AI engine.)
