Amazon is pledging to invest up to $4 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic. Under the partnership, Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be the primary cloud platform for Anthropic's mission-critical workloads, which include foundation model development, with further plans for the startup to run the majority of its workloads on AWS. It has been a customer of the cloud vendor since 2021 and made its flagship Claude foundation model available on AWS in April. Also: Amazon's new Echo Hub may be its most important smart home product yet Anthropic also will tap AWS' Trainium and Inferentia chips to train and deploy its future foundation models as well as be involved in the future development of the chip technology. In addition, future iterations of the AI startup's foundation models will be made available to AWS' global customers via Amazon Bedrock, a managed service through which AI models can be accessed with an API.

Consulting firms provide businesses with professional advice based on thorough research of a specific industry or area. As a result, consultancy firms have robust sources and research data -- and now McKinsey & Company has launched an AI chatbot to helps its clients access this information. On Thursday, McKinsey unveiled Lilli, its AI-powered search tool that gives clients and consultants easy access to the firm's vast stores of knowledge. When asked a question, Lilli scans the firm's databases and identifies five to seven relevant pieces of content, summarizes key points, includes links, and even identifies experts, according to a press release from McKinsey. McKinsey has a robust knowledge base that consists of more than 40 curated knowledge sources, 100,000 documents and interview transcripts, and a network of experts that spans 70 countries.

Amazon is to invest up to $4bn (£3.2bn) in the startup Anthropic, which has created a rival to ChatGPT called Claude, as the Silicon Valley giant seeks to keep pace with rivals including Microsoft and Google in the race to dominate the artificial intelligence space. Under the terms of the deal, Amazon will invest an initial $1.25bn into Anthropic, which was founded about two years ago by former research executives from the ChatGPT developer OpenAI, and take a minority stake in the business. Amazon said its investment in Anthropic, which recently announced its new AI chatbot Claude 2, can be increased to up to $4bn. "We have tremendous respect for Anthropic's team and foundation models, and believe we can help improve many customer experiences, short- and long-term, through our deeper collaboration," said the Amazon chief executive, Andy Jassy. Amazon's move to strike a strategic partnership with a successful AI startup follows Microsoft's multibillion-dollar deal with OpenAI in January, which included becoming its exclusive cloud provider.

Amazon is investing up to $4 billion in OpenAI rival Anthropic as a way to provide advanced deep learning and other services to its Amazon Web Service (AWS) customers, the company wrote in a press release. In return, AWS becomes Anthropic's "primary cloud provider" to train and deploy its future foundation models. It's the second large investment in the company, founded by former OpenAI executives, following Google's $400 million partnership with the firm. The e-commerce company will start with a $1.25 billion investment to gain a minority stake in Anthropic, with an option to boost that to a total of $4 billion. Along with Google and Amazon, Anthropic also counts Salesforce, Zoom, Spark Capital and others as backers. Notably, Anthropic's deal with Google didn't require it to buy cloud services from the search giant.

Rubbish is piled up outside the building - with almost as much inside. There are piles of flammable junk, and open chemical containers. The yarn is at least bundled up in white plastic bags, but the inventory is scattered around the plant in unmarked piles. Such shambolic conditions are typical in the Indian textile industry, and that presents an opportunity. A team of researchers from Stanford University and the World Bank is conducting a novel experiment.