MW Anthropic and OpenAI are following Palantir's playbook as they seek to grow AI usage

By William Gavin

The artificial-intelligence labs have both finalized new joint ventures that aim to broaden their reach by embedding engineers with customers to offer refined, customized AI solutions

OpenAI and Anthropic are racing to get more customers to adopt their respective suites of artificial-intelligence products.

Anthropic and OpenAI are supercharging their battles for new enterprise customers by ripping a few chapters out of Palantir Technologies' playbook.

Both artificial-intelligence labs have finalized new joint ventures that aim to broaden their reach through the use of forward-deployed engineers, or FDEs. Palantir (PLTR) popularized the job, which was once mocked before interest exploded as AI become popular.

Historically, Palantir developed its products by embedding a small group of engineers with customers for a period of months. Over that time, those workers, known as forward-deployed engineers, would collect data and create a digital replica of an enterprise, allowing Palantir to customize its software for individual customers.

OpenAI and Anthropic are among the companies trying to replicate Palantir's success using the forward-deployed engineer model.

In January, Anthropic signed a deal with Accenture that includes Anthropic training thousands of Accenture's employees on the AI giant's tools and then having some of those Accenture workers embed with clients as "reinvention deployed engineers," another term for FDEs. On Monday, Anthropic also launched a new AI services joint venture with at least eight partners, including the venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital.

Hellman & Friedman, a private-equity firm, and Anthropic each plan to invest some $300 million in the venture, while Goldman Sachs $(GS)$ is expected to invest some $150 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Blackstone (BX) will also invest about $300 million in the venture, a source familiar with the matter told MarketWatch.

Overall, investors are expected to commit $1.5 billion to the venture, the Wall Street Journal reported. Anthropic and Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the financial terms of the venture. A representative for Hellman & Friedman did not immediately return a request for comment.

Dig deeper: Palantir pioneered the hottest job in tech. Its legions of copycats may not succeed.

Goldman Sachs's global head of asset and wealth management, Marc Nachmann, in a statement said that "democratizing access" to FDEs can help companies adopt AI and scale their operations. The unnamed venture will focus on midsize companies, Anthropic said.

"A typical engagement starts with a small team working closely with the customer to understand where Claude can have the biggest impact," Anthropic said. "From there, the company's engineers - alongside Anthropic Applied AI staff - will develop Claude-powered systems tailored to each organization's operations."

Meanwhile, OpenAI in February announced its "Frontier Alliance," a program anchored by consultancies, including Accenture. It works by pairing consultants with OpenAI's FDEs to help companies use its AI products.

Read: Microsoft and OpenAI aren't breaking up. But they're not exclusive anymore.

OpenAI has also finalized a $10 billion joint venture with private-equity firms to help businesses adopt its AI products, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. The venture, named the Deployment Company, has the backing of 19 investors, including Bain Capital and Brookfield Asset Management, according to the report.

OpenAI, Bain Capital and Brookfield Asset Management did not immediately return MarketWatch's request for comment.

Getting more enterprise customers to adopt their products will be important for both Anthropic and OpenAI, which need to justify their sizeable valuations ahead of their potential public listings. OpenAI and Anthropic were most recently valued at $852 billion and $380 billion, respectively.

OpenAI said in March that it is generating $2 billion in revenue a month, about 40% of which comes from enterprise customers. Anthropic has said that it has more than 1,000 business customers spending more than $1 million on an annualized basis.

Read more: Google is now a glorified venture-capital fund thanks to its SpaceX and Anthropic stakes

-William Gavin

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May 04, 2026 12:30 ET (16:30 GMT)

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