How Anthropic Could Take an OpenAI Supplier Off The Table

Is a big AI model maker about to take out a supplier to its archrival? That seems possible if a deal we reported on late Tuesday reaches the finish line. 

Anthropic is in talks to buy developer tools startup Stainless for at least $300 million, according to Stephanie and Katie. The New York startup makes software development kits that make it easier for developers to build applications from a company’s AI models, which they typically access through an application programming interface. Those kits are in demand as the differences between models fade, making it more important for them to distinguish themselves by showing how easy they are to access. Stainless’ customers include OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. 

If Anthropic goes through with the deal, however, it’s not clear the first two will stick around. Instead, they’d have to look for alternative suppliers or create their own SDKs.

That’s in fact what OpenAI had done before becoming a customer of Stainless. But these SDKs were difficult to maintain, OpenAI engineers have said. And according to a testimonial on Stainless’ site, customers also complained. In the words of one OpenAI engineer featured on the site: “The developer experience was lacking.”