Anthropic has acquired Opaque Systems. The latter has created technology for utilizing data in AI systems while protecting it by the underlying hardware. For your information Opaque announced the deal last week.

Anthropic will obtain Opaque’s confidential computing and cryptographic verification technology. Opaque’s team that includes CEO Aaron Fulkerson and CTO Rishabh Poddar will move to Anthropic.

Opaque Systems originates from UC Berkeley’s RISELab. This strategic step could enhance Anthropic’s abilities in handling sensitive data and broaden its influence in privacy-regulated AI sectors.

There is uncertainty about the future of Opaque’s open-source projects. Also, there are mixed views on the deal’s industry benefits versus potential conflicts. Opaque’s founders include Ion Stoica, co-founder of Databricks and Anyscale, and Raluca Ada Popa, an encryption and systems security researcher who is presently working at Google DeepMind.

The organization turned its confidential computing research into technology utilized in production AI deployments. Later it broadened that work beyond protecting data and models.

Opaque stated “As AI evolved, so did the problem we set out to solve. Protecting data and models was no longer enough. Organizations also needed a way to independently verify how AI systems and agents behaved.”

SOURCES:-

https://www.securityweek.com/anthropic-acquires-confidential-ai-startup-opaque-systems/

https://en.softonic.com/articles/anthropic-acquires-opaque-systems-confidential-computing-moves-in-house

https://cryptobriefing.com/anthropic-acquires-confidential-ai-startup-opaque-systems/

https://techgig.com/news/ai/anthropic-acquires-opaque-systems-for-confidential-ai-expertise/134984739