Anthropic in talks with Blackstone on AI joint venture despite Pentagon supply chain dispute

Anthropic in talks with private equity firms on AI joint venture, The Information reports

The recent conflict between the US government and Anthropic ⁠temporarily affected discussions over the joint venture, but talks are ongoing, according to The Information report. If finalised, the partnership would adopt a Palantir-style model to offer consulting services to help ⁠companies integrate Anthropic's AI into their operations, the report said. Anthropic is in talks with a group of private equity firms, including Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman, to form an AI-focused joint venture, The Information reported on Wednesday. The partnership would 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 who was briefed about it. If finalised, the partnership would adopt a Palantir-style model to offer consulting services to help ⁠companies integrate Anthropic's AI into their operations, the report said. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. ⁠Anthropic and Blackstone did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. There is an ongoing dispute between the U.S. and Anthropic over restrictions on the military's use of its AI tools that resulted in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labelling the company a supply chain risk and banning its use by the U.S. Department of Defense and its contractors. The recent conflict between the U.S. government and Anthropic ⁠temporarily affected discussions over the joint venture, but talks are ongoing, according to The Information report. Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the Pentagon informed its senior leaders that the use of Anthropic's AI tools, including Claude AI, could continue beyond the previously announced six-month phase-out period if deemed critical to national security.

Anthropic Discusses AI-Focused Partnership With Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman - Blackstone (NYSE:BX)

Blackstone Inc (NYSE:BX) and Hellman & Friedman are understood to be holding conversations with artificial intelligence company Anthropic regarding the formation of an AI-focused joint venture. * Blackstone shares are approaching critical lows. What's behind BX weakness? Other private equity firms are also holding similar discussions with Anthropic, Reuters reported. Reuters could not immediately verify this claim as Anthropic and Blackstone did not return requests for comment. The report noted that, should the agreement be completed, the partnership would provide advisory services similar to Palantir's model, guiding companies on how to implement Anthropic's AI within their workflows. The partnership would seek to market the Claude creator's technology to businesses supported by the investment firms, Reuters added. The Pentagon formally notified Anthropic last week that its AI products pose a risk to the U.S. supply chain. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei clapped back on Feb. 27, claiming it would "challenge any supply chain risk designation in court." Photo: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Anthropic Hopes to Sell Enterprise Tech to PE Firms' Clients | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The artificial intelligence (AI) startup has been in talks with PE groups like Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman about this arrangement, The Information reported Wednesday (March 12), citing sources familiar with the matter. One source said the conflict between the Department of Defense and Anthropic temporarily impacted discussions about the proposed joint venture, though they are still ongoing. Another source said that some executives at Blackstone -- whose CEO Stephen Schwarzman is closely aligned with President Donald Trump -- are worried that it could be risky to announce an agreement with Anthropic while the dispute with the Pentagon is happening. PYMNTS has contacted Anthropic for comment but has not yet received a reply. The military ended its relationship with Anthropic and designated the company a supply chain risk last month after the company sought assurances that its AI would not be used to power fully autonomous weapons or for mass domestic surveillance operations. Anthropic has sued the Defense Department in federal court to reverse the agency's decision, and has argued in court that the supply chain risk designation is causing some customers to distance themselves from the company. As The Information noted, this is happening at a time when Anthropic had been enjoying a boom in part due to enterprise demand for its coding and workplace automation tools. Research by PYMNTS Intelligence -- from the report "Smart Spending: How AI Is Transforming Financial Decision Making" -- found that more than 8 in 10 finance chiefs at large companies are either already using AI or considering adopting it. "The growth of enterprise AI is emerging at a key juncture in the enterprise software landscape where, after years of software lockups across inflexible and monolithic solutions, corporate customers are increasingly demanding more from their B2B vendors because they know that more is possible," PYMNTS wrote recently. This moment is particularly consequential for B2B payments, the report added. Payments are at the convergence of finance, operations, risk and trust. They are repetitive, data-rich and traditionally manual, the type of environment where AI should shine. At the same time, they are unforgiving when it comes to workflow failures and downtime. "There's a continuous evolution and ... dynamic disruption in finance that requires CFOs to harness data and AI to make finance more efficient, more effective and substantially more strategic," Raj Seshadri, chief commercial payments officer at Mastercard, said in an interview with PYMNTS in October.

Anthropic in talks with Blackstone, PE firms on consulting tie-up- The Information By Investing.com

Investing.com-- Anthropic is in talks with Blackstone and several other private equity firms over forming an artificial intelligence joint venture, the Information reported on Wednesday, citing people involved in the discussions. The venture will aim to sell Anthropic's AI technology to companies funded by the private equity firms, the report said. Get more breaking news on the top AI firms by subcsribing to InvestingPro A recent fallout between Anthropic and the Department of Defense, which saw the company threatened with being designated as a supply chain risk, had briefly disrupted the talks, but they are now back on track, the report said. AI is expected to disrupt the traditional consulting industry by automating several key data-intensive tasks.