Former OpenAI researchers' AI firm receives $300 million investment from Google

Established in 2021, Anthropic specializes in researching AI language models. They have created their own all-purpose chatbot, named Claude, which could be a competition to ChatGPT.

Google and Microsoft's rivalry over AI continues to escalate. While Microsoft has a strong partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, Google may have aligned with Anthropic, a company founded by former OpenAI employees. According to a Financial Times report, Google invested around $300 million in Anthropic in late 2022, which gave them a 10% stake in the company. The startup is now obligated to use Google's cloud computing services. This arrangement is similar to Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership where Microsoft provides substantial investment and cloud access while OpenAI brings its AI research expertise to the table.

Anthropic is making headlines with its own general-purpose chatbot, Claude, which could potentially compete with ChatGPT. While Claude is currently in its beta phase, there is a comparison available between Anthropic and OpenAI's systems. It is uncertain if Google intends to incorporate Claude into its offerings, similar to Microsoft's integration of ChatGPT. Google already boasts a strong in-house team for developing AI language systems. The Financial Times suggests that the acquisition may be driven by Google's goal to strengthen its cloud computing business.

Anthropic was established in 2021 as a public benefit corporation by former OpenAI VP of Research, Dario Amodei, who brought along several researchers, including lead engineer for GPT-3, Tom Brown. The formation of the organization was due to a disagreement over OpenAI's commercial focus following its deal with Microsoft in 2019.

Anthropic's emphasis is on developing "reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems", a contrast to OpenAI's increasingly controversial actions, such as the public release of ChatGPT without proper safeguards. However, it remains to be seen how Google's investment will impact Anthropic's priorities.

Google is hosting an AI-focused event on February 8th, and Microsoft is also expected to make announcements about its plans for ChatGPT and Bing in the near future.