Inside Google’s Investment in the A.I. Start-Up Anthropic

In the race to dominate artificial intelligence, Google has not only advanced its own technologies but also heavily invested in leading A.I. start-ups. To maintain its competitive edge, however, the tech giant has kept its stakes in these companies largely under wraps.

Recently obtained court documents, reviewed by The New York Times, have shed light on Google’s financial involvement in Anthropic, a rising A.I. firm, and how its investment is set to evolve.

According to legal filings submitted in connection with a Google antitrust case, Google owns 14% of Anthropic. However, this investment grants Google minimal influence over the start-up. The filings indicate that Google’s ownership is capped at 15%, with no voting rights, board seats, or board observer status.

Despite these limitations, Google is poised to inject an additional $750 million into Anthropic this September through a convertible debt arrangement—an agreement made in 2023. Altogether, Google has invested over $3 billion in the A.I. company.

These filings offer a rare glimpse into how major tech firms are backing A.I. start-ups—an area increasingly scrutinized by regulators who question whether such investments provide established players with an unfair advantage. Besides Google, other tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft have also funneled significant resources into notable A.I. companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.

“A major player like Google understands that A.I. is a competitive race, and with its vast financial resources, it can afford to place multiple bets,” said Chris V. Nicholson, an investor at Page One Ventures specializing in A.I. technologies.

Anthropic’s filings surfaced amid a landmark antitrust case against Google concerning its dominance in online search. In August, a federal court ruled that Google had unlawfully maintained its monopoly in internet search.

To address the issue, the Justice Department initially proposed that Google be forced to divest from any A.I. ventures that could rival its search business, potentially including its stake in Anthropic, whose chatbot, Claude, could serve as an alternative for search queries.

However, on Friday, the Justice Department revised its stance, suggesting instead that Google should be required only to notify government authorities before making future A.I. investments.

Anthropic had submitted its filings before this policy shift. While portions of the publicly available documents were redacted, an unredacted version was provided to The Times by Anthropic’s law firm, as the newspaper has advocated for greater transparency in the antitrust case.

In these filings, Anthropic argued that forcing Google to divest would be detrimental not only to the start-up but also to market competition as a whole. Such a move, the company’s lawyers contended, would lower Anthropic’s valuation and hinder its ability to secure funding.

Tom Brown, a co-founder of Anthropic, further warned that severing ties with Google would cause “severe harm” to the start-up, according to the court documents.

Google declined to comment on the financial specifics of its stake in Anthropic, stating only that its equity investments aim to generate returns and expand the market. Anthropic also declined to comment.

Founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei—both former OpenAI executives who left over disagreements regarding Microsoft’s role in funding and distributing OpenAI’s technology—Anthropic was established with a focus on building safer A.I. systems. The company is structured as a public benefit corporation, meaning its mission prioritizes public and social good.

(The Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement related to A.I. training on news content—claims that both companies have denied.)

According to court filings, Anthropic has taken measures to ensure it remains independent and not dominated by any single tech giant. The start-up has raised over $14.8 billion from investors, including venture capital firms such as Menlo Ventures.

In 2023, Google invested more than $2 billion in Anthropic. That same year, Amazon committed $4 billion, followed by another $4 billion investment last year.

Today, Google’s stake in Anthropic is valued “significantly higher” than the start-up’s latest funding round, which closed this month at a valuation of $61.5 billion, per court filings.

Anthropic relies on vast amounts of computing power to develop its A.I. models and has agreements to purchase cloud services and specialized chips from Google and Amazon—both of which have invested in the company. As a result, a portion of the funds Anthropic raises ultimately flows back to its investors.