philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Rebel AI group raises record cash after machine learning schism

A breakaway group of artificial intelligence researchers has raised a record first round of financing for a new start-up involved in general-purpose AI, marking the latest attempt to create an organisation to guarantee the safety of the era’s most powerful technology. The group has split from OpenAI, an organisation founded with the backing of Elon Musk in 2015 to make sure that superintelligent AI systems do not one day run amok and harm their makers. The schism followed differences over the group’s direction after it took a landmark $1bn investment from Microsoft in 2019, according to two people familiar with the split. The new company, Anthropic, is led by Dario Amodei, a former head of AI safety at OpenAI. It has raised $124m in its first funding round. That is the most raised for an AI group trying to build generally applicable AI technology, rather than one formed to apply the technology to a specific industry, according to the research firm PitchBook. Based on figures revealed in a company filing, the round values Anthropic at $845m.

OpenAI has sought to insulate its research into AI safety from its newer commercial operations by limiting Microsoft’s presence on its board. However, that still led to internal tensions over the organisation’s direction and priorities, according to one person familiar with the breakaway group.

To insulate itself against commercial interference, Anthropic has registered as a public benefit corporation with special governance arrangements to protect its mission to “responsibly develop and maintain advanced AI for the benefit of humanity”. These include creating a long-term benefit committee made up of people who have no connection to the company or its backers, and who will have the final say on matters including the composition of its board.

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