Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have invested billions in artificial intelligence (AI) startups and are profiting by charging these startups to use their cloud platforms. They have poured $20 billion into startups like Anthropic and OpenAI, with $10 billion coming this year, expecting to generate cloud revenue. Microsoft, having invested $1 billion in OpenAI and planning a $10 billion investment, benefits as customers use ChatGPT. The deals make the big tech firms both the largest backers and most direct beneficiaries of these startups. Critics like venture capitalist Bill Gurley have raised concerns about the circular nature of these deals. While AI startups are unprofitable, their valuations are rising, posing a challenge for venture capitalists but less so for tech giants supporting the ecosystem. Salesforce invested in Hugging Face, valuing the AI software host at $4.5 billion, aiming to connect customers with its AI software catalog.