• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 17, 2025

Anthropic wants to weigh in on an upcoming antitrust hearing that could result in an order requiring Google to sell its stake in the artificial intelligence company.

“A forced, expedited sale of Google’s stake in Anthropic could depress Anthropic’s market value and hinder Anthropic’s ability to raise the capital needed to fund its operations in the future, seriously impacting Anthropic’s ability to develop new products and remain competitive in the tight race at the AI frontier,” Anthropic writes in papers filed Friday with U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C.

The company, which develops the large language model Claude, is seeking to submit affidavits and file a written argument with Mehta in an upcoming hearing on the Department of Justice's proposals to remedy Google's search monopoly.

In August, Mehta ruled after a trial that Google violated antitrust law by arranging to serve as the default search engine on browsers operated by Apple and Mozilla, as well as on Android devices.

The Department of Justice in November proposed numerous restrictions on Google, including not only that Google end its long-running multi-billion dollar search deal with Apple, but also that Google divest from other companies' artificial intelligence products that could potentially enter the search engine market.

Mehta plans to hold a hearing in April on the proposed remedies.

Anthropic says the potential restrictions on investments “would have serious consequences” for its ability to compete, and also give an “unjustified windfall” to larger competitors, including OpenAI, Meta and Google's Gemini.

Anthropic adds that it was “surprised” by Department of Justice's proposed remedy because the Google's investments in Anthropic and artificial intelligence generally “were never part of this case.”

The Claude developer writes that Amazon and Google are both investors, and that Google owns a minority of the company. Anthropic adds that it has “committed extensively” to microchips manufactured by Google and Amazon, and that it partners with both companies for cloud computing service.

Anthropic isn't the only outside company that wants to get involved in the battle between the Justice Department and Google.

Apple filed a motion to intervene in the case, arguing that it wants to present live testimony and cross-examine witnesses in the upcoming hearing over remedies. Mehta denied that motion, ruling that Apple could instead submit affidavits and make a written argument. Apple is appealing that decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Currently, Anthropic says it is only seeking to participate in the hearing on the same terms as Apple. But the company says it, too, will ask to intervene in the case if the appellate court rules in Apple's favor.