American artificial intelligence company Anthropic is launching a new platform for its enterprise customers to purchase third-party software, a move that is expected to further expand the AI technology startup's product landscape. On Friday (March 6), the company said that the "Anthropic Marketplace" will make it more convenient for its customers to purchase a series of software applications built on the Anthropic model, covering services such as Snowflake, Harvey, Replit, etc.
Anthropic said the software store will not take a commission from transactions and will allow customers to redirect a portion of their annual spending on Anthropic's own services to purchase third-party tools - a model similar to the software marketplace platforms of Amazon and Microsoft.
In Amazon's AWS Marketplace, customers can purchase nearly tens of thousands of artificial intelligence agents and tools, covering software development, data analysis, legal consultants, financial accounting, marketing, etc.
Amazon’s AWS Marketplace
In recent years, Anthropic has also been pushing to sell AI software applications to a wider range of industries and working to establish itself as a core pillar of the company's work, especially now that the company's business with the U.S. government faces new uncertainties.
Previously, the U.S. Department of Defense asked Anthropic to fully open up restrictions on the use of Claude, allowing the military to use the model for "all lawful purposes." Anthropic said it would not comply with the Department of Defense's request "without conscience."
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Defense formally notified Anthropic that it had classified it as a "supply chain risk," which could prevent the company from doing business with the U.S. government and also affect its partnerships with other companies on defense projects.
In response, Kate Jensen, head of Anthropic Americas, said, "This is a topic we are currently discussing frequently with our customers. The good news is that for now, we expect that the vast majority of customers' business will be business as usual."
On Thursday, Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei said the U.S. government's restrictions were more limited in scope and would not affect Anthropic's other businesses not related to specific Pentagon contracts.
A Microsoft spokesperson also said that the company has confirmed that it can continue to cooperate with Anthropic on non-defense projects. Still, significant uncertainty remains for companies working with both the Pentagon and Anthropic.