Google has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence start-ups to maintain its competitive edge in the industry. Court documents recently uncovered Google’s 14 percent ownership stake in Anthropic, a company that develops A.I. technologies. Despite the significant investment, Google does not have control over Anthropic and holds no voting rights or board seats in the company.
In September, Google is set to invest an additional $750 million in Anthropic through convertible debt. The investment is part of Google’s broader strategy to secure its position in the rapidly evolving A.I. market. Regulators have been scrutinizing big tech companies’ investments in A.I. start-ups, questioning whether these deals give incumbents an unfair advantage.
In a landmark antitrust case against Google over online search, the Justice Department had proposed that Google sell any A.I. products that could compete with search, including its stake in Anthropic. However, the department has since pulled back on this proposal. Anthropic argues that forcing Google to divest its stake would harm both the company and competition.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by Dario and Daniela Amodei, who had left OpenAI over funding disagreements with Microsoft. The company focuses on building A.I. technologies with safety guardrails and has raised significant funding from venture capital firms. Google’s investment in Anthropic is now worth more than the company’s latest funding round, valuing Anthropic at $61.5 billion.
Google’s investment in Anthropic, along with other tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft, illustrates the fierce competition in the A.I. race. The investments not only provide financial support but also access to computing power and cloud services from the companies that invested in them, creating a complex web of relationships in the A.I. industry.
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