Google Invests in an AI Start-Up, Indicating the Company’s New Interest
- Google and Microsoft have thrown their weight behind AI, showing a new trend among tech giants.
- The crypto market is seeing a decline in investor presence and faces huge competition from AI.
- Several crypto projects have expanded their use cases to include AI functionalities.
With crypto projects far from their most lucrative, global organizations such as Google have turned to other budding industries such as artificial intelligence (AI). Google is the latest corporate giant to throw its weight behind a firm in the expanding field of “generative AI” after investing nearly $300 million in artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic.
According to sources, the terms of the deal require Anthropic to use the funds to purchase computing capacity from Google’s cloud computing unit. Google will also acquire a stake of approximately 10%.
Google’s action underlines the influence some of the big tech firms have over other AI-related firms, as these AI businesses depend on cloud computing infrastructure to handle the massive AI models created by organizations like Anthropic.
Google’s investment in Anthropic follows a similar route to Microsoft’s in OpenAI three years ago. Microsoft’s partnership put OpenAI on the path to creating a number of ground-breaking AI systems, which resulted in the launch of ChatGPT late last year.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic are working to advance “generative AI,” which refers to highly developed computer programs that can write code and produce scripts in a matter of seconds. According to sources, Google’s involvement with Anthropic is confined to serving as the company’s technology provider.
With companies such as Google and Microsoft embracing AI, crypto is gradually being relegated to the background. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, corporate executives and policymakers seemed more intrigued by AI as the hyped technology of choice. Meanwhile, crypto firms were overshadowed by the demise of FTX and the mounting pressures from US regulators.
Both Google and Microsoft recently announced plans to reduce their workforces and solidify interest in AI. It remains to be seen if these companies will change their stance on crypto.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
