Meta Projected $10B Annual Spend on Anthropic Despite Public Attacks

Meta's Hidden Dependency on a Public Rival

Meta internally projected annual expenditures reaching $10 billion on AI tools from Anthropic, even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly criticized rival AI startups in terms widely interpreted as targeting that same company, The New York Times reported.

The $10 billion figure appeared in Meta's internal planning documents at some point during 2024, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Times. The scale of that projected spending becomes clearer when measured against Anthropic's own financial projections: the AI startup estimated in July that its total annual revenue would surpass $65 billion, meaning Meta's expenditures alone could represent a substantial portion of that figure.

Public Criticism Alongside Private Dependence

Zuckerberg published a 6,500-word essay earlier this month that took aim at unnamed AI companies, with passages widely understood to reference Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei. In the essay, Zuckerberg argued that leading AI laboratories were consolidating power while portraying the technology's future as "filled with doom." He warned that their dominance would shift "the balance of power" to favor "larger institutions over individuals."

The financial relationship between Meta and Anthropic had not been previously disclosed until The Times published its investigation. The reporting reveals a company simultaneously depending on a competitor's technology while positioning itself as a philosophical opponent to that competitor's approach.

Why It Matters

This arrangement exposes a fundamental tension in the AI industry's competitive landscape. Large technology companies are funneling billions to rivals they publicly disparage, creating complex interdependencies that blur traditional competitive boundaries. For business leaders evaluating AI partnerships, this dynamic suggests that public positioning and private strategy may diverge significantly, and that even direct competitors can become essential infrastructure providers. The scale of Meta's projected spending also signals how rapidly AI tooling costs are escalating for major platforms.

A Broader Industry Pattern

According to The Times, the Meta-Anthropic relationship exemplifies a recurring pattern across the AI sector. Major technology companies routinely direct enormous financial resources toward rivals they simultaneously criticize in public forums, creating a network of frenemies bound together by technical dependencies and competitive pressures.

These details were first reported by The New York Times.