There seems to be a war brewing in the technology world with reports that Anthropic, the rapidly growing artificial intelligence company, is in deep discussions with Google LLC, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., for an alleged investment worth tens of billions of dollars. What is interesting is that at the same time, Google’s biggest rival OpenAI has introduced a major new product called ChatGPT Atlas. The sheer timing of these two moves has tech gurus asking questions about whether Google’s growing investment in Anthropic is a direct response to OpenAI’s latest initiative.
Google and Anthropic: Inside the billion-dollar talks
According to reports, Google and Anthropic are negotiating a massive deal that would see Google provide large scale computing infrastructure and cloud services to support Anthropic’s expanding artificial intelligence models. Moreover, this includes the use of Google’s advanced tensor processing units, which are critical for training increasingly complex language models. And although the deal has not yet been finalized as of this writing, multiple sources suggest that it could be worth ‘tens of billions of dollars’.
That would be huge for the relationship between Anthropic and Google as Google already holds a significant stake in Anthropic after previously investing around $3 billion (approximately £2.233 billion) in the company. Furthermore, reported estimates suggest that Google owns approximately 14 per cent of Anthropic, although it is not confirmed to have any board control or decision making authority within Anthropic.
Now for Anthropic, this partnership would ensure access to the gigantic computing power required to keep training and deploying large language models at scale to try and compete with ChatGPT. Moreover, the company’s growth has been rapid, and its ambitions extend well beyond its current offerings seemingly. For Google, on the other hand, such a partnership could strengthen its cloud division and help it compete directly with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, both of which have already struck deals with other major AI players as per reports. Moreover, the potential deal clearly shows how valuable Anthropic’s progress has become in the artificial intelligence race.
ChatGPT Atlas: OpenAI’s next big thing
While Google explores a deeper relationship with Anthropic, OpenAI has made headlines of its own with the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser with a massive upside. The browser, currently available on macOS, integrates ChatGPT directly into the browsing activity which is a massive way of making browsing easier. As per initial reports, it allows users to summarize content, analyze websites, and carry out tasks without ever leaving the browser environment.
So by introducing Atlas, OpenAI is doing far more than releasing another software tool because it is attempting to redefine how people interact with the internet itself. Moreover, the integration of ChatGPT into the browsing process challenges the traditional dominance of Google’s search ecosystem particularly in Google Chrome, which has for very long been the primary gateway to online information. Furthermore, some analysts have pointed out that if users begin relying on Atlas for everyday information retrieval, it could reduce their dependence on Google Search, potentially disrupting one of Google’s most profitable business segments. This is seemingly why Google’s stock took a major hit when ChatGPT announced Atlas.
A strategic response from Google?
Now coming to the crux of the matter. given the timing of these almost simultaneous developments, it can be argued that Google’s intensified relationship with Anthropic could be a strategic counter to OpenAI’s growing influence. Moreover, the introduction of ChatGPT Atlas arrives at a time when traditional search engines are under ever increasing pressure to adapt to AI driven models of information delivery. So for Google, reinforcing its partnership with Anthropic could be a way to ensure it remains at the forefront of AI model innovation to stand toe to toe with ChatGPT, as the internet and the way to use it changes.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
