TechCrunch Minute: Amazon bets $4B on Anthropic’s success

The current AI wave is a never-ending barrage of news items. To understand what I mean, ask yourself how long you spent considering the fact that Amazon put another $2.75 billion into Anthropic AI last week. Right?

We’ve become inured to the capital influx that is now common in AI, even as the headline numbers get even bigger. Sure, Amazon is slinging cash at Anthropic, but single-digit billions are chump change compared to what some companies have planned. Hell, even smaller tech companies — compared to the true giants — are spending to stay on the cutting edge.

You can chat to your heart’s content, but be aware you’re not getting quite the same set of features that folks with accounts are. You won’t be able to save or share chats, use custom instructions, or other stuff that generally has to be associated with a persistent account.

So as we digest Amazon’s latest, let’s do a quick rewind through some of the largest AI rounds in the last few quarters, and ask ourselves just why we’re some big tech corps get busy with their checkbooks.