Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn appeared onstage at a Microsoft event in Sydney in December to tout the wonders of Copilot, the tech giant’s OpenAI-powered assistant. CBA had 20,000 employees using the tool, Comyn said, adding he was eager to work more closely with the tech giant to deepen adoption of AI within the bank.
Fast forward four months and Australia’s biggest bank has now announced a strategic investment in Anthropic, OpenAI’s fiercest competitor.
CBA dropped an undisclosed number of millions on a minority stake in the lab. A big reason why, according to the bank's CIO for technology Brendan Hopper, is Anthropic’s focus on AI safety.
“In my mind, safe, responsible AI is a huge portion of why we chose to partner with them,” Hopper said.
