Anthropic is in talks with several private equity firms, including and Hellman & Friedman, to form an artificial intelligence joint venture, The Information reported on Wednesday.
The development comes amid a recent fallout between Anthropic and the US Department of Defense, which has designated the company as a supply chain risk.
The dispute had briefly disrupted talks on the joint venture, but they have since resumed and are back on track, the report said.
What does the partnership intend to do?
The venture could aim to sell the Claude maker’s technology to companies backed by the investment firms, the report said, citing a person involved in the discussions and another individual briefed on it.
If finalised, the partnership would adopt a Palantir-style model. Anthropic, led by CEO Dario Amodei, would provide consulting services to help companies integrate its AI tools into their operations, the report said.
The move comes as AI is increasingly expected to disrupt the traditional consulting industry by automating several key data-intensive tasks that firms have historically relied on human analysts to perform.
Anthropic-US dispute
The ongoing dispute stems from restrictions on the military’s use of the. The startup demanded assurances that its AI wouldn’t be used for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomous weapons deployment.
The tensions further escalated after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labelled the firm a “supply chain risk” and banned its tools from use by the US Department of Defense and its contractors.
Pentagon informed its leaders that use of Anthropic’s AI tools, including Claude AI, could be stretched beyond the previously announced six-month phase-out period if deemed critical to national security.
Following the remarks, Anthropic sued the Defense Department, urging the court to act quickly to block the government’s declaration. It said it could lose billions of dollars in revenue, Bloomberg reported earlier.
Tech giants show support
Anthropic’s case had gained traction and received support from global technology companies. In one such instance, Microsoft challenged Hegseth’s action in a legal filing last week.
Meanwhile, dozens of AI scientists and researchers from and Google, competitors and, in Google’s case, also an investor, have expressed support for Anthropic via a joint letter to the judge.
They said existing AI systems can’t “safely or reliably handle fully autonomous lethal targeting, and should not be available for domestic mass surveillance of the American people,” according to Bloomberg.
(With wire inputs)