Anthropic is an American artificial intelligence company founded on a single conviction: that building the most powerful AI systems in the world and making them safe are not competing goals — they are the same goal. It is best known for Claude, its family of AI assistants, which ranks alongside ChatGPT and Google Gemini as one of the most widely used AI tools in the world.

How Anthropic Started

Anthropic was founded on January 26, 2021, by Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei, and six colleagues who had all worked at OpenAI. Dario had served as OpenAI’s Vice President of Research; Daniela as its VP of Operations. The split came down to a difference in priorities: the founding group believed that as AI systems grew more powerful, safety research needed to be a first-class concern from the start — not a problem to solve later.

Anthropic is structured as a public benefit corporation (PBC), a legal form that requires balancing commercial goals with a publicly stated mission. That mission: the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity.

As of May 2026, Anthropic has raised approximately $108 billion in investment, with Amazon and Google among its largest backers. Its valuation reached $965 billion in May 2026, making it the most valuable pure-play AI company in the world.

What Is Constitutional AI?

Anthropic’s defining technical approach is a training method it calls Constitutional AI. Rather than relying solely on human raters to steer a model’s behavior, Constitutional AI gives the model an explicit set of principles — a “constitution” — and trains it to evaluate and revise its own responses against those principles.

The principles draw on sources like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, instructing the system to support freedom, equality, and human dignity. The aim is to produce AI that is helpful, honest, and harmless in a way that holds up as capabilities increase, not in spite of it.

Claude: Anthropic’s AI Assistant

Claude launched publicly in March 2023. The model line spans three main capability tiers — Haiku (fast and lightweight), Sonnet (the everyday workhorse), and Opus (the most capable) — with the latest generation including Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Mythos 5.

Claude is available as:

  • A chat assistant at claude.com, with apps for web, iOS, Android, and desktop.
  • Claude Code, a command-line tool built for software developers.
  • An API, for developers and businesses building products on Claude.
  • Claude for Teams and Enterprise, with administration controls and higher usage limits for organizations.

Claude is used by organizations including NASA and Microsoft for research, coding, and content work.

How to Start Using Claude

Claude.com has a free tier that requires no credit card. It includes chat on web and mobile, code generation, web search, file uploads, and memory across conversations.

Paid plans, as of June 2026, per Anthropic’s pricing page:

  • Pro: $17/month (annual) or $20/month — adds Claude Code, expanded usage limits, and Microsoft 365 integrations.
  • Max: From $100/month — 5× or 20× more usage than Pro, plus priority access during high-traffic periods.
  • Team: $20/seat/month (annual) or $25/seat/month — central administration, single sign-on, and enterprise search.

To get started, visit claude.com and create a free account.

In the News

The competition for AI talent has intensified around Anthropic: Two More Senior Gemini Researchers Quit Google for Anthropic. The trend reflects both the demand for experienced AI researchers and Anthropic’s growing reputation as a destination for safety-focused work.

FAQ

Is Claude the same as ChatGPT?
No. Claude and ChatGPT are both AI assistants, but built by different companies using different methods. ChatGPT is made by OpenAI; Claude is made by Anthropic using its Constitutional AI training approach.

Is Claude free to use?
Yes. Claude.com offers a free tier with no credit card required. Paid plans start at $17/month and unlock higher usage limits and additional features like Claude Code.

What makes Anthropic different from other AI labs?
Anthropic was founded specifically to prioritize AI safety research alongside frontier model development. Its Constitutional AI method, public benefit corporation structure, and research agenda set it apart from labs whose primary driver is product timelines.

What is Anthropic’s most powerful model?
As of mid-2026, Anthropic’s most capable models are Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Mythos 5.

Sources: Anthropic – Wikipedia · Claude Pricing