Founded in 2021, Anthropic is an artificial intelligence (AI) company known for its large language model (LLM) Claude. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company was founded by former employees and researchers of the competing AI company OpenAI. Anthropic is said to prioritize safety and release LLMs that are thoroughly vetted to minimize harm.

Anthropic operates as a public benefit corporation (PBC), a legal structure that requires the company to consider its impact on society alongside financial returns. The company describes its core mission as the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. A central part of its research agenda is Constitutional AI, which is a methodology Anthropic developed for training AI systems to be helpful, harmless, and honest using a set of guiding principles rather than solely through human feedback.

Anthropic also places a heavy emphasis on policy and research related to AI.

In May 2026, Anthropic announced it raised $65 billion in its latest funding round. The new valuation helped it surpass OpenAI as the most valuable pure-AI startup in the world, valued at $965 billion.

Research & Policy

Alongside product development, Anthropic publishes research on AI safety, model behavior, and interpretability. The company has been an active participant in federal AI policy discussions and has engaged with Congress, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and international regulatory bodies on questions of AI governance and safety standards.

In 2025, Anthropic launched the Claude for Education initiative, making Claude available to colleges and universities at a reduced cost. This offering also included features designed for academic settings, including support for AI literacy curriculum development and research partnerships focused on AI's impact on student learning.

Education & Workforce

Anthropic has been an active partner in education and workforce development initiatives. Examples of initiatives include:

• Claude Corps
  • A work-based learning partnership with CodePath that places students in AI-focused roles.
• Knowledge Network
  • A research-sharing community co-launched with CodePath to study AI's real-time impact on student learning.
• RAISE US
  • An anchor partner in the RAISE US National Artificial Intelligence Workforce Transition Initiative, a $500 million bipartisan effort to help workers, employers, and communities navigate AI-driven labor market changes.

Resources

Anthropic. (n.d.). About Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/company

Anthropic. (n.d.). Claude for Education. https://www.anthropic.com/education

Bariso, J. (2026, May 30). How did Anthropic become more valuable than OpenAI? Here's the answer, in just 1 word. Inc. https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/how-did-anthropic-become-more-valuable-than-openai-heres-the-answer-in-just-1-word/91353078