Google invests in artificial intelligence company previously funded by FTX
2023.02.05 06:02
Google invests in artificial intelligence company previously funded by FTX
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – Anthropic, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, received over $500 million from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried approximately six months prior to the catastrophic collapse of FTX. Google Cloud is said to have invested $300 million in Anthropic.
Anthropic confirmed the investment partnership with Google Cloud on the same day that Financial Times reported the $300 million figure, despite not disclosing any figures:
We are excited to train our AI systems, including Claude, using Google Cloud!
Anthropic also confirmed in the same announcement that it had previously raised capital in its Series B fundraising round from Bankman-Fried and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, among others:
The CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, led the Series B round. Caroline Ellison, Jim McClave, Nishad Singh, Jaan Tallinn, and the Center for Emerging Risk Research (CERR) also participated in the round.
Crunchbase says that Bankman-Fried led the fundraising efforts in April 2022.
According to a recent article published by The New York Times, approximately $530 million of the $580 million raised came from Bankman-Fried and his former business partners.
However, some people think the number is even higher.
According to one FTX creditor, Bankman-Fried may have a stake in the AI company worth as much as $1.1 billion. However, the creditor did not elaborate on the amount.
The possibility that Bankman-Fried’s stake will be used to pay off the enormous debt that FTX has accumulated as a result of their most recent controversies is also being speculated by other members of the Crypto Twitter community.
Regarding the partnership, Anthropic will now train, expand, and implement its AI chatbox, “Claude,” using Google Cloud’s GPU and TPU clusters, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGTP.
According to Financial Times, Google Cloud received a stake in Anthropic worth about 10%.
On Jan. 3, Bankman-Fried personally pleaded not guilty to all eight fraud and conspiracy-based charges brought against him. It is unknown where the majority of the debt in the FTX bankruptcy case will come from.
