Google-Anthropic deal could be unwound as part of DOJ antitrust case: report

Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) deal with generative artificial intelligence startup Anthropic could be unwound as part of the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against the tech giant, Bloomberg reported.

Google shares were down 5.5% on Thursday amid news that the Justice Department wants it to split off its Chrome web browser as part of the resolution to the antitrust case.

The partnership between Google and Anthropic could fall apart if Judge Amit Mehta — who is overseeing the case and previously ruled Google was a monopolist — accepts the Justice Department’s proposal that has asked Google be banned from acquiring, investing in or collaborating with any company that has access to information and allows to consumers search, including artificial intelligence-related products, the news outlet said.

Google previously invested $2B into Anthropic, which makes the Claude AI chatbot. The company has also raised funds from Amazon (AMZN) and a host of other tech companies.

Anthropic is reportedly in talks to raise additional funding that would value it at $40B.

Anthropic’s deep ties to big tech

In addition to the investment, Google has a deal with Anthropic that lets the AI startup use the Google Cloud Platform and Google’s tensor processing unit chips.

Earlier this week, the Competition and Markets Authority, the U.K.’s antitrust agency, said Google’s partnership with Anthropic did not need an investigation, as it does not believe “Google has acquired material influence over Anthropic as a result of the partnership.”

In September, the CMA said Anthropic’s deal with Amazon (AMZN) also did not qualify for investigation.

Google and Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.