Anthropic, Accenture commit $1B each to embedded evaluators

Anthropic and Accenture said on September 18 that each expects to invest at least $1 billion over the next five years in independent evaluation of frontier AI, with the work led by Faculty, Accenture's specialist AI business.

The mechanism they call 'embedded evaluation' is what makes the announcement notable. In its own post, Anthropic writes that 'embedded evaluators will work inside AI companies, with access comparable to an employee's. That access allows them to watch models take shape in training, follow the decisions that govern how those models are built and deployed, and speak directly to employees.' The named activities are evaluating and red-teaming models, conducting alignment assessments, and testing model safeguards.

Anthropic traces the arrangement back to a commitment in its CEO's essay 'We Must Pace the Frontier,' and to its June Advanced AI Framework, which had called for pooled or government funding for this kind of oversight. A billion-dollar bilateral with a consulting firm is a different answer to the same problem.

The post is careful about what the deal does not do. 'Independent embedded evaluators do not reduce our accountability, but help to make it more verifiable. The safety of our models remains our responsibility.' Anthropic adds that it is also 'in dialogue with METR and other nonprofit evaluators to pilot elements of embedded evaluation using their own funding,' and that the partnership is non-exclusive on both sides: Accenture will work with other AI developers in similar capacities.