Amazon has modified parts of its partnership with AI startup Anthropic, replacing an hours-based billing arrangement with a token-pricing model that is scheduled to start next year, according to a report by The Information. The report cited people familiar with the matter and indicated the shift could lead to higher expenses for Amazon when accessing Anthropic's large language models, including Claude.
An Amazon spokesperson pushed back on that interpretation, emphasizing the ongoing nature of the relationship with Anthropic. "Amazon and Anthropic share a multifaceted partnership grounded in technical collaboration, and we continue to foster that relationship and deepen our work together," the spokesperson said, adding that it was "incorrect that changes from our expanded collaboration will increase our costs."
The deal between the two companies is operational as well as financial. Amazon deploys Anthropic's models to power several of its AI-driven services - among them the Alexa shopping assistant, the Kiro coding tool and Quick, a workplace assistant.
The firms have maintained a formal partnership since 2023, when Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic. That investment came with terms that made Amazon Web Services (AWS) the startup's primary cloud provider and tied Anthropic's training and inference work to Amazon's custom AI chips. Earlier this year, Amazon agreed to commit up to an additional $25 billion in funding for Anthropic.
Amazon has also broadened its AI relationships through a separate agreement with OpenAI. Under that arrangement, Amazon will invest up to $50 billion, while OpenAI will run on AWS infrastructure, make its models available through Amazon Bedrock and provide Amazon access to its AI models for integration across the company's products and services.
Context and implications
The reported move from compute-hour billing to a token-based pricing scheme represents an operational shift in how usage of large language models is quantified and invoiced. The companies' public statements stress a continued technical collaboration, while the report highlighted concerns about the potential for higher costs. Amazon's rebuttal leaves the disagreement over cost impacts unresolved in public statements.
What remains clear from available information
- The pricing model change is set to take effect next year.
- Amazon continues to use Anthropic models across multiple internal and customer-facing products.
- Both companies have longstanding and expanding financial commitments to one another, including past and potential future investments.