“Hiring locally in Europe could be to ensure that its offerings down the line are tuned to European requirements that may not fully align with that of the US – particularly related to AI governance,” said Abhishek Sengupta, practice director at Everest Group. “There could also be potential business incentives aligned to local operations as more and more countries announce funds for developing a local AI ecosystem.”
Implications on EU AI adoption
Beyond expansion, Anthropic’s growing presence in Europe may signal the start of direct competition with firms positioning themselves as regionally compliant AI providers.
Anthropic is “confronting” Cohere head-on, Park said, pointing out that the Canadian startup has been actively marketing itself as a European-based, EU-compliant alternative.
“But this market competition may be a gift in disguise, as the EU has been famously aggressive in attacking monopoly,” Park said. “Having anthropic more deeply focused on the EU may give more freedom for Cohere, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and other AI firms to be able to build business in what is perceived as a competitive market.”
For AI companies with global ambitions, building a meaningful presence in the EU is no longer optional. Park noted that Anthropic’s more deliberate and safety-focused approach may align better with the demands of highly regulated markets.
This story originally appeared on Computerworld
