Accenture shares jump 6% as Anthropic names it to lead AI safety evaluations
Accenture shares rose about 6% in Monday premarket trading after the IT services group said it would embed a team of evaluators inside Anthropic to stress-test its AI models; both companies plan to invest at least $1 billion each in independent AI safety evaluation.
Accenture shares rose about 6% in premarket trading on Monday after the IT services group said late on Friday that it would embed a team of evaluators inside Anthropic to stress-test the AI company’s models, the latest sign that independent AI safety testing is becoming a commercial business in its own right.
The non-exclusive partnership, announced by Anthropic on 18 September, will be led by Faculty, the UK-based AI company Accenture acquired this year. Accenture’s Faculty unit will conduct independent safety assessments, red-teaming and safeguard testing of Anthropic’s AI systems. Both companies said they expected to invest at least $1 billion each over the next five years in building independent AI evaluation capacity.
“Accenture is bringing together a dedicated team with deep AI, security and industry expertise to work alongside Anthropic,” chair and chief executive Julie Sweet said.
The move is a welcome one for investors: Accenture’s shares are down roughly 30% this year on market jitters about corporate IT spending and concern that AI tools could take business from professional-services firms, and a Guggenheim analyst downgrade sent the stock down 4.7% on Friday. Last quarter the company lowered its full-year revenue guidance, and it reports results on 1 October.
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