German LLM maker Aleph Alpha pivots to AI support | TechCrunch
Europe doesn’t have many large language model (LLM) makers but one of these rare AI beasts — Germany’s Aleph Alpha — appears to be preparing to rule itself out of the running, per Bloomberg, which has an interview with CEO Jonas Andrulis on its pivot to a broader generative AI-support play.
The idea with a product it unveiled last week, called PhariaAI, is to help other companies or the public sector use AI tools regardless of whether it made the underlying tech. “The world changed,” Andrulis told Bloomberg. “Just having an European LLM is not sufficient as a business model. It doesn’t justify the investment.”
Aleph Alpha raised a $500 million Series B round last November. But with category giants like OpenAI having far beefier war chests to fuel development — and, closer to home, France’s Mistral has also raked in more investor cash — the German startup had its work cut out to stay in the LLM fight.
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