By UBS News Staff | November 21, 2024

Amazon is doubling down on artificial intelligence, investing another $4 billion in Anthropic, a San Francisco-based AI safety and research company. This move brings Amazon’s total investment in the startup to $8 billion since last year, solidifying its efforts to compete in the AI arms race alongside Microsoft, Google, and others.

Anthropic, founded by ex-OpenAI employees, is known for developing Claude, an AI assistant rivaling ChatGPT. Amazon’s funding will support machine learning hardware and further innovation in generative AI, which has transformed the tech industry by enabling humanlike communication and content creation.

Big tech companies are leveraging investments in AI startups not only for innovation but also to drive revenue through cloud-computing services. Anthropic, for instance, has committed to spending $4 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next five years.

The Federal Trade Commission and U.K. regulators have scrutinized these investments, but no formal investigations have been launched against Amazon’s involvement with Anthropic.

Generative AI funding surged last year, with nearly $30 billion invested industry-wide. Amazon’s commitment underscores its determination to remain at the forefront of AI innovation.