Monday morning saw yet another tech giant, Amazon, announce its major investment in ChatGPT’s OpenAI rival Anthropic, with an initial stake of $1.25 billion rising to $4 billion over some time. Core to the deal, the two-year-old start-up will be deploying Amazon’s AWS custom chips to develop its AI software.
This smart move from Amazon ensures it keeps pace with other tech competitors including Microsoft (OpenAI has an exclusive deal with Microsoft), and Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Dario and Daniela Amodei, the brother-sister duo at the helm of Anthropic, founded the company in 2021 and so far have received backing from Google (worth a $450 million investment), Spark Capital, Salesforce, and crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
But they are not an exception, neither are they the first to receive such enormous investments. Other start-ups this year that have been conferred eye-watering sums of investments significantly north of $100 million include Adept AI, Cohere, and Builder.AI.
What is it that these tech moguls, VCs, and tech giants are seeing in AI that is driving the mad AI gold rush?
Artificial intelligence is to science, technology, and business operations what the birth and rise of the internet was to these very industries back in the 1990s. It is the signal of a new era, significantly spearheading and underpinning ground-breaking research and the development of cutting edge technologies. Whether we like it or not, AI is revolutionizing the entire world.
To keep pace with the times and maintain relevance as an entrepreneur or leader, it is critical to adopt a continuous growth mindset and learn skills that include adaptability with the times, embracing new partnerships, and maintaining long-term vision as these tech giants have demonstrated.
Let’s explore each in further detail:
Keeping pace with emerging trends
A striking example of what happens when a business fails to keep pace with and adapt to emerging technology trends is that of video rental chain Blockbuster, which infamously shut its doors in 2014. Its lack of relatability to current market conditions, poor customer service and little adaptation to client expectations and demands, rendered it obsolete in an age when its rival Netflix was rapidly gaining market dominance.
Investors such as Amazon, who have stayed at the forefront and placed significant funding into fresh AI start-ups, recognize the urgency of being relevant and keeping pace when a new technology takes the world by storm.
For any business owner or leader, whether you have the power or means to invest or not, staying current and adapting to emerging trends in the swift-paced world of technology will ensure you maintain relevance and acceptance in the market and solidify your long-term income. This is especially true with the competitive nature of the AI race.
Embracing partnerships
Partnerships and collaboration are the key to any thriving business. The saying goes, “No man is an island.” This is, perhaps, nowhere most pertinent than in the world of business. Amazon’s strategic decision to level the playing field and invest heavily in Anthropic, while the terms of the deal are mutual, demonstrate the wisdom of effective partnership-building: having mutual interests, mutual objectives and goals, and collaborating to further both.
As a leader, you will go much further in your business and career when you understand and leverage the power of strategic partnerships. Actively seek out collaborative opportunities with experts, start-ups, investors, and others to expand your capabilities and propel innovation.
Maintaining long-term vision
With any major decision, a well-defined long-term vision and a strategy to enable it, is essential to business and even personal career growth. However, deciding on your goals and creating them using the SMART framework is only the first step. As you progress towards achieving these business goals, it is inevitable that opportunities or threats may arise that could derail you.
It is therefore crucial to maintain a careful balance between being adaptable to emerging trends, and understanding when something is completely off the agenda and the possibility of it furthering your goals is not explorable.
A significant investment or decision to partner with another business entity should always be met with one question: How will this further our shared objectives for the future? If this question cannot be clearly answered, it is not worth pursuing.
Amazon’s willingness to invest the initial $1.25 billion in Anthropic with the potential for increase of up to $4 billion showcases the value of making investments in innovative projects that may not produce instant rewards, but will generate long-term value.
Overall, to be a robust leader in this day and age requires you to think outside the box and be willing to embrace the trends of the future, stay current, actively seek out partnerships, and all the while keep the long-term picture in view. In these ways you will withstand the test of time and experience longevity in your leadership career.
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