BUZZ — Accenture rises after partnering with Anthropic to invest $2 billion in AI evaluation

* Shares of IT consulting firm Accenture up ~7% at $194.11 after the bell * Co and AI lab Anthropic partner to build team of "embedded evaluators" at Anthropic * Companies say they expect to invest $1 billion each to build AI safety over next five years * Accenture's specialist AI business, Faculty, will lead the partnership and evaluate and red-team the AI lab's models, conducting alignment assessments and testing model safeguards * "Embedded evaluation is an emerging area and we look forward to partnering with Anthropic to help accelerate the development of embedded evaluators, which we see as an important part of the safety landscape going forward" - Accenture CEO Julie Sweet * As of last close, stock down about 32% YTD (Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru) ((AnujaBharat.Mistry@thomsonreuters.com)