Artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic is to open an office in Dublin, its first in the European Union (EU), as part of the San Francisco-based company’s plans to expand in Europe.
The move follows the opening of small office in London last year. The Dublin office, which is expected to open in the coming months, will initially employ staff across a range of sectors including legal, sales and people operations, and could expand recruitment to other areas.
No indication was given on the size of the planned office, but a spokesman for Anthropic said the company was aiming to have a small presence in Ireland by the end of the year, and hoped to make Ireland its main establishment, noting that Europe is an “incredibly important” market for the company.
“Ireland has developed an incredible tech ecosystem over the last two decades or so which we are looking forward to joining,” Athropic said. “Ireland offers a wealth of executive talent experienced in scaling businesses across the EU, as well as a strong workforce in science and technology, which we plan to leverage as we expand our operations.
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Describing Dublin as a “leading European tech hub” with strong connections to AI centres such as London, Paris, and Berlin, Anthropic said it was an ideal location for the office.
“Its diverse talent base, thriving start-up sector and concentration of big tech firms make it the ideal location from which to grow our European operation,” the company said.
AI safety and research company Anthropic is one of the top competitors to OpenAI, with its chatbot Claude. Initially backed by Google, the company attracted other high profile investors. Last year, Amazon announced plans to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic, starting with an initial $1.25 billion for a minority stake.
The AI start-up was founded when a group of OpenAI employees, led by Dario Amodei, split from the company after differences over the group’s direction, following its $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.
The news of Anthropic’s arrival in Ireland follows OpenAI’s decision to locate in Dublin.
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