AI start-up Anthropic has announced plans for expansion within the European Union, with a key focus on establishing their footprint in Dublin. The start-up’s debut in the European Union is just part of a larger growth strategy that originated from their base in San Francisco.
The Dublin office will be their first one on EU soil and comes on the back of them opening a smaller office in London the previous year. The opening of the Dublin office, which is slated for the upcoming months, will involve hiring staff from varied sectors including sales, legal, and people operations. Potential hiring areas might broaden in the future. However, the start-up has yet to reveal the scale of their planned Dublin office.
A representative for Anthropic stated the company aims to build a modest footprint in Ireland by the year’s end, with intentions of making it their primary base. He highlighted the importance of the European market for the company. The start-up heralded the rich tech ecosystem that has been developing in Ireland for the past couple of decades, expressing their enthusiasm about joining it.
Favouring the abundance of executive talent in Ireland and the vigorous science and technology workforce, the company plans to capitalise on these resources as they grow. Given Dublin’s status as a leading European tech hub with robust links to other AI centres such as Paris, London, and Berlin, Anthropic considers the city as the ideal location for establishing their presence.
Anthropic, a prime contender to OpenAI with their chatbot Claude, is a notable AI research and safety firm. Initially fortified with Google’s backing, the start-up went on to attract other significant investments. In the previous year, Amazon declared an investment plan amounting to $4 billion for Anthropic, starting with an early investment of $1.25 billion for a minority stake.
The start-up came into existence after a group of OpenAI employees, under Dario Amodei’s leadership, broke off from the company following disagreements over the group’s direction after receiving a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.
News of Anthropic’s debut on Irish soil comes in the wake of OpenAI’s decision to establish their location in Dublin.