Google's $2 Billion Investment Accelerates the Rise of Anthropic

On Wednesday (25/10), Google has pledged a whopping $2 billion investment in Anthropic, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI executives.

This development, confirmed by CNBC, highlights Google's ambitions in the rapidly evolving AI landscape and is contributing to the rise of Anthropic.

A Substantial Investment

The financial commitment comprises an initial cash infusion of $500 million, with an additional $1.5 billion earmarked for future investments, as conveyed by a spokesperson for Anthropic in response to CNBC's inquiry.

The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on this planned financing.

Google, at the time of reporting, had not responded to requests for comment on the matter.

The Rise of Anthropic

Anthropic is renowned for developing Claude 2, a chatbot that stands as a formidable rival to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

This advanced chatbot has found applications in various prominent companies, including Slack, Notion, and Quora.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has already garnered substantial support, not only from Google but also from Salesforce and Zoom. The company's valuation earlier this year was an impressive $4.1 billion.

The Power of Claude 2

What sets Claude 2 apart is its capacity to summarize extensive content, encompassing up to approximately 75,000 words—equivalent to the length of a book.

Users can input substantial data sets and request summaries in the form of memos, letters, or stories. This sets it apart from ChatGPT, which can handle approximately 3,000 words.

Research conducted by Arthur AI, a machine learning monitoring platform, underscored Claude 2's reliability, particularly in terms of "self-awareness."

This attribute signifies its ability to accurately discern what it knows and doesn't know, answering questions only when it has training data to support its responses.

In comparative testing, Claude 2 outperformed chatbots from Meta, Cohere, and even OpenAI.

Hayden Field / CNBC