Amazon invests in one of the ‘most-valued’ AI startups, and why it may be good news for tech industry

Internet giant Amazon has announced that it will invest up to $4 billion in cash in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic. The announcement comes as the world’s biggest technology companies race to benefit from AI breakthroughs that could reshape parts of their businesses. Anthropic is seen as one of the most promising AI startups, which like Google’s Bard and Microsoft-backed OpenAI also operates an AI-powered, text analyzing chatbot. With the investment Amazon is trying to keep pace with rivals Microsoft and Google, which have each poured billions into AI technology.

Under the deal, Amazon’s employees and cloud customers will get early access to technology from Anthropic, which they can infuse into their businesses. The San Francisco-based startup has also committed to rely primarily on Amazon’s cloud services, including training its future AI models on large quantities of proprietary chips it would buy from the online retailing and computing giant.