To win the artificial intelligence race, Google not only has developed its own technologies, but has also pumped money into prominent A.I. start-ups. And to preserve its competitive edge, Google has kept its ownership stakes in those start-ups a secret.
Court documents recently obtained by The New York Times reveal Google’s stake in one of those start-ups, Anthropic, as well as how its investment in the young company is set to change.
Google owns 14 percent of Anthropic, according to legal filings that the A.I. start-up submitted as part of a Google antitrust case. But that investment gives Google little control over the company. The internet giant can own only up to 15 percent of Anthropic, according to the filings, and Google holds no voting rights, no board seats and no board observer rights at the start-up.
Still, Google is set to invest an additional $750 million in Anthropic in September through a type of loan known as convertible debt, according to the filings. The companies agreed to the convertible note in 2023. In total, Google has invested more than $3 billion in the A.I. company.
The filings offer a rare glimpse into a big tech company’s investment in an A.I. start-up. Such investments have been under scrutiny by regulators, who questioned whether the deals gave incumbents an unfair advantage in the rapidly evolving and powerful technology. Apart from Google, Amazon and Microsoft have also invested in high-profile A.I. start-ups such as Anthropic and OpenAI, the maker of the ChatGPT chatbot.
“A big company like Google knows that there is a race to A.I., and it has a big enough cash pile that it can bet on multiple horses,” said Chris V. Nicholson, an investor with the venture capital firm Page One Ventures who focuses on A.I. technologies.
