Anthropic

What is Anthropic?

Anthropic is an artificial intelligence (AI) research company based in San Francisco, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives and researchers. Anthropic specializes in the development of large language models (LLMs) and is renowned for prioritizing AI safety, interpretability, and ethical alignment through its Constitutional AI methodology. The company operates as a public-benefit corporation, balancing shareholder interests with commitment to broader societal impact and responsible AI development.

Key Products and Services:

• Claude - Advanced AI assistant family designed for safety, reliability, and helpful behavior, including Claude Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku variants optimized for different performance and cost requirements
• Claude API - Developer platform providing programmatic access to Claude models through Anthropic API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Cloud Vertex AI
• Constitutional AI - Proprietary training methodology encoding ethical principles directly into model behavior for self-moderating, transparent, values-aligned AI
• Claude for Enterprise - Business solutions offering enhanced security, compliance features, and dedicated support for organizational deployments

Related Product Article: For comprehensive information about Anthropic’s Claude AI assistant family, features, pricing, and applications, see Claude.

Mission and Values

Anthropic’s mission is to create AI systems that are safe, reliable, interpretable, steerable, and helpful, honest, and harmless. Core values include:

• Acting for global good and prioritizing universally beneficial outcomes
• Emphasizing transparency and open collaboration with civil society, academia, government, and industry
• Igniting race to top on AI safety by setting new standards and sharing research
• Making mission-driven decisions that put safety and alignment above short-term gains
• Practicing empirical, impact-focused problem-solving

History and Background

Anthropic was established in 2021 by Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei, Jack Clark, Tom Brown, Sam McCandlish, and others—many of whom were previously senior researchers and executives at OpenAI. The founding team left OpenAI due to philosophical differences, especially regarding pace, openness, and safety of AI development.

Key Milestones:

• 2021: Anthropic incorporated as public-benefit corporation in San Francisco
• 2022–2025: Rapid expansion, raising more than $7 billion from major investors including Amazon ($4 billion commitment) and Google
• March 2023: Claude 1 launches, introducing Constitutional AI
• 2023–2024: Claude 3 family released (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku)
• May 2025: Claude 4 family launches (Opus 4, Sonnet 4)
• August 2025: Claude Opus 4.1 released; Claude Code shows 5.5x revenue increase
• September 2025: Claude Sonnet 4.5 released, achieving state-of-the-art coding performance
• October 2025: Claude Haiku 4.5 released
• November 2025: Claude Opus 4.5 released, most intelligent model to date

Anthropic remains privately held and has not pursued public stock listing.

Product Lineup: The Claude Family

Claude 4 Family (Latest Generation)

Claude Opus 4.5 (November 2025)

• Positioning: Most intelligent model to date, frontier reasoning and coding excellence
• Key Capabilities:
  • State-of-the-art coding across 7 out of 8 programming languages (SWE-bench Multilingual)
  • Superior long-horizon autonomous tasks with sustained reasoning
  • 65% fewer tokens for equivalent quality vs. competitors
  • 50-75% reduction in tool calling and build/lint errors
  • 15% improvement over Sonnet 4.5 on Terminal Bench
  • Excels at long-context storytelling (10-15 page chapters)
• Use Cases: Complex enterprise tasks, multi-codebase refactors, agentic workflows, advanced research
• Pricing: $15 input / $75 output per million tokens

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (September 2025)

• Positioning: Best coding model in world, strongest for complex agents and computer use
• Key Capabilities:
  • 77.2% on SWE-bench Verified (82% with high-compute setting)
  • 61.4% on OSWorld (computer use benchmark)
  • Sustained focus for 30+ hours on complex multi-step tasks
  • 200K context window, up to 64K output tokens
  • Extended thinking with tool use
  • 44% reduction in vulnerability intake time, 25% accuracy improvement
• Use Cases: Agentic coding, computer automation, security analysis, complex litigation, long-running tasks
• Pricing: $3 input / $15 output per million tokens
• Availability: Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, GitHub Copilot

Claude Opus 4.1 (August 2025)

• Positioning: Drop-in replacement for Opus 4, optimized for agentic tasks and real-world coding
• Key Capabilities:
  • 74.5% on SWE-bench Verified (without extended thinking)
  • Hybrid reasoning modes (standard + extended thinking)
  • Improved memory capabilities with file access
  • 200K context window
• Use Cases: Long-running coding tasks, autonomous development, complex problem-solving
• Pricing: $15 input / $75 output per million tokens
• Safety Level: ASL-3 (AI Safety Level 3)

Claude Opus 4 (May 2025)

• Positioning: World’s best coding model at launch, sustained performance on long-running tasks
• Key Capabilities:
  • 72.5% on SWE-bench, 43.2% on Terminal-bench
  • Works continuously for several hours
  • Extended thinking with tool use (beta)
  • Background execution for long-running tasks
  • 200K context window
• Use Cases: Frontier agent products, complex codebase understanding, multi-file changes
• Pricing: $15 input / $75 output per million tokens

Claude Sonnet 4 (May 2025)

• Positioning: Significant upgrade to Sonnet 3.7, balanced performance and efficiency
• Key Capabilities:
  • 72.7% on SWE-bench
  • Enhanced steerability and instruction following
  • Hybrid modes (instant + extended thinking)
  • Parallel tool usage and improved memory
• Use Cases: Business workflows, internal tools, coding collaboration, GitHub Copilot integration
• Pricing: $3 input / $15 output per million tokens

Claude Haiku 4.5 (October 2025)

• Positioning: Near-frontier coding quality at fastest speed and lowest cost
• Key Capabilities:
  • 73.3% on SWE-bench Verified
  • Matches Sonnet 4 on coding
  • Surpasses Sonnet 4 on some computer-use tasks
  • Knowledge cutoff: February 2025
• Use Cases: Small companies, fast assistants, high-volume applications
• Pricing: $1 input / $5 output per million tokens
• Safety Level: ASL-2

Claude 3 Family (Previous Generation)

Claude 3 Opus

• Most advanced Claude 3 model for complex reasoning and technical tasks
• Pricing: $15 input / $75 output per million tokens

Claude 3 Sonnet

• Balanced performance with increased efficiency
• Pricing: $3 input / $15 output per million tokens

Claude 3 Haiku

• Smallest and fastest Claude 3 model
• Pricing: $0.25 input / $1.25 output per million tokens

Core Technology

Large Language Models (LLMs)

• Claude powered by large language models—advanced neural networks trained on massive datasets
• Models learn to recognize complex patterns, predict likely continuations of language, and generate human-like responses

Transformer Architecture

• Uses transformer neural network architecture
• Tokenization, vector embeddings, self-attention mechanisms, probabilistic output

Constitutional AI

• Key innovation by Anthropic—training method that encodes explicit ethical principles into model behavior
• Principles based on global human rights documents, trust and safety practices
• Training phases: Supervised Learning (SL) and Reinforcement Learning from AI Feedback (RLAIF)
• Outcome: Self-moderating, transparent, values-aligned AI assistant

Hybrid Reasoning Modes (Claude 4)

• Toggle between near-instant responses and extended thinking for deep reasoning
• Extended thinking with tool use (beta) allows alternating between reasoning and tool calls
• Fine-grained control over thinking depth via effort parameter

AI Safety Levels

• ASL-2 (AI Safety Level 2): Standard safety measures (Sonnet 4, Haiku 4.5)
• ASL-3 (AI Safety Level 3): Enhanced safeguards for powerful models (Opus 4, Opus 4.1, Opus 4.5)
• Rigorous testing for misuse scenarios, adversarial vulnerabilities, CBRN risks

Safety, Ethics, and Data Privacy

Safety

• Constitutional AI promotes helpful, honest, and harmless responses
• Extensive safety evaluations for each model release
• Protective measures against persistently harmful or abusive conversations
• Third-party assessments and transparency reports

Data Privacy

• User data handling: Granular control over whether data improves models
• Opt-in users’ data retained up to five years; default retention 30 days
• Enterprise and API: User data not retained for model training
• Data deletion: Users can delete individual chats or accounts anytime
• Sensitive data filtered using automated tools; user data never sold

Safety Testing

• Disallowed content evaluations, jailbreak resistance
• Prompt injection defense, vision safety
• Hallucination reduction, health information accuracy
• Deception mitigation, child safety protections

Common Use Cases

Agentic Coding and Software Development

• Autonomous code generation, refactoring, debugging
• Multi-file changes, complex codebase navigation
• Long-running development tasks (hours to completion)
• Integration with GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Replit, JetBrains

Enterprise Applications

• Complex enterprise workflows combining information retrieval, tool use, and analysis
• Security vulnerability analysis and patching
• Compliance system adaptation
• Multi-step research and marketing campaigns

Computer Use and Automation

• Direct browser interaction, site navigation
• Spreadsheet filling, form completion
• Real-world computer tasks (OSWorld benchmark: 61.4%)

Business Intelligence

• Document summarization, market analysis
• Financial analysis (entry-level to advanced predictive)
• Knowledge synthesis across complex information landscapes

Legal and Compliance

• Contract review, litigation analysis
• Full briefing cycle analysis
• Summary judgment preparation
• Policy drafting

Creative and Collaborative Work

• Long-form storytelling and content generation
• Slide, document, and spreadsheet creation and editing
• Marketing content with nuance and tone awareness

Education and Research

• Tutoring, research assistance
• Essay brainstorming and refinement
• Language learning support

How to Access Claude

Web Interface: claude.ai provides user-friendly chat interface

API Access: Developers integrate Claude into custom applications via Claude API

Cloud Platforms: Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI

Third-Party Integrations: GitHub Copilot, Notion Agent, Cursor, various developer tools

Plans:

• Free Tier (limited daily usage)
• Claude Pro ($20/month) - includes Opus 4.5, Sonnet 4.5, extended thinking
• Claude Max - enhanced features
• Team & Enterprise - business solutions with enhanced privacy and controls

Claude vs Competitors

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths

• Industry-Leading Coding: State-of-the-art performance across benchmarks (SWE-bench, Terminal-bench, OSWorld)
• Safety Excellence: Constitutional AI, ASL-3 safeguards, rigorous testing
• Long-Horizon Capabilities: Sustained performance on tasks lasting 30+ hours
• Token Efficiency: Up to 65% fewer tokens for equivalent quality
• Computer Use: Leading performance on real-world computer automation
• Enterprise-Ready: Strong privacy controls, hybrid reasoning, tool integration
• Developer Adoption: Integrated into GitHub Copilot, Cursor, major developer platforms

Limitations

• No Image Generation: Cannot create images or videos
• No Real-Time Internet: Knowledge base updated periodically
• False Positives: CBRN classifiers occasionally flag normal content (improving continuously)
• Potential Hallucination: Like all LLMs, can produce incorrect responses

Recent Developments

Enterprise Adoption Growth

• 5.5x increase in Claude Code revenue since Claude 4 launch (May-August 2025)
• Integration into major developer platforms (GitHub, JetBrains, VS Code, Xcode)

Model Context Protocol

• Connector introduced for enhanced agent capabilities
• Files API for improved context management

Product Enhancements

• Checkpoints in Claude Code for progress saving and rollback
• Native VS Code extension
• Context editing feature and memory tool for API
• Chrome extension for direct browser interaction

Corporate Structure and Security Considerations

Jurisdiction and Corporate Structure

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Legal Structure: Public Benefit Corporation (PBC)

• Anthropic is incorporated as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, legally required to balance shareholder interests with broader societal impact
• PBC structure mandates consideration of stakeholders beyond shareholders, including employees, communities, and society
• Annual benefit reports required documenting social and environmental performance
• Governance structure ensures mission alignment takes precedence over profit maximization

Corporate Governance:

• Independent board oversight with AI safety experts
• Long-Term Benefit Trust designed to preserve mission as company scales
• Commitment to maintaining independence and avoiding conflicts of interest

Capital Structure and Major Investors

Total Funding: Over $7 billion raised through 2025

Major Investors:

• Amazon - $4 billion commitment (largest investor), strategic cloud partnership through AWS
• Google - Significant investment, cloud infrastructure partnership through Google Cloud
• Spark Capital - Early investor and board representation
• Menlo Ventures, Salesforce Ventures - Strategic investors
• Individual investors - Former OpenAI leadership and AI safety researchers

Strategic Partnerships:

• Amazon Web Services - Primary cloud infrastructure provider, exclusive Bedrock partnership
• Google Cloud - Secondary cloud provider, Vertex AI integration
• Both partnerships structured to maintain Anthropic’s operational independence

Investment Philosophy:

• Selective capital raising aligned with mission priorities
• Investor agreements include mission-protective clauses
• Focus on partners committed to responsible AI development

Data Governance and Sovereignty

Data Center Locations: Distributed across:

• United States (primary, via AWS)
• European Union (GDPR compliance)
• Global AWS and Google Cloud regions

Data Residency Options:

• Enterprise customers can specify regional data processing
• Data processed in AWS or Google Cloud regions based on customer location
• Private deployment options available for sensitive workloads

Data Retention Policies:

• Free tier: Conversations used for safety monitoring, deleted after analysis
• Claude Pro: User data not used for model training without explicit consent
• API/Enterprise: Customer data strictly isolated, zero retention by default
• Users maintain full control over data deletion and retention preferences

Government Data Access:

• Subject to U.S. legal jurisdiction and lawful data requests
• Publishes transparency reports on government inquiries
• Enterprise customers can implement end-to-end encryption
• Commitment to challenging overly broad or unlawful requests

Regulatory Compliance and Certifications

Security Certifications:

• SOC 2 Type II - Comprehensive security controls audit
• ISO 27001 - International information security management
• Enterprise-grade encryption - Data encrypted at rest and in transit
• Regular third-party security audits - Continuous security validation

Privacy Compliance:

• GDPR (European Union) - Full data protection compliance
• CCPA (California) - Enhanced consumer privacy rights
• Standard Contractual Clauses - Legal mechanism for international data transfers

Industry-Specific Compliance:

• HIPAA - Business Associate Agreements available for healthcare
• Financial Services - Enhanced security controls for regulated industries
• Government - Working toward FedRAMP authorization

AI Safety Certifications:

• Voluntary commitments to White House AI safety framework
• Participation in Partnership on AI and other safety initiatives
• Regular third-party AI safety evaluations (ASL framework)
• Transparency through public system cards and safety research

Geopolitical and Security Considerations

National Security Status:

• U.S.-headquartered company subject to CFIUS oversight for foreign investments
• AI technology considered dual-use with potential national security implications
• Subject to U.S. export controls (ITAR, EAR) for advanced AI capabilities
• Participates in U.S. government AI safety initiatives

Export Restrictions:

• Claude models subject to U.S. export controls for certain jurisdictions
• Service unavailable in embargoed countries (Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba)
• API access restricted in high-risk jurisdictions
• Monitoring compliance with evolving AI export regulations

Government Relationships:

• Collaborates with U.S. government on AI safety research
• Provides input to policymakers on responsible AI regulation
• Limited government contracts focused on safety and alignment research
• Commitment to transparency about government partnerships

Five Eyes Considerations:

• Operates within Five Eyes intelligence-sharing framework
• Technology accessible to allied government agencies
• Subject to U.S. information sharing obligations
• Maintains strong encryption and privacy protections

Strategic Considerations for International Customers:

• United States: Full service availability with all features
• European Union: GDPR-compliant with data residency options
• United Kingdom: Post-Brexit data adequacy maintained
• Canada/Australia/New Zealand: Five Eyes partnership considerations
• China: Service not available; export restrictions apply
• Russia: Restricted due to sanctions and export controls
• Middle East: Available with regional data sovereignty considerations
• Asia-Pacific: Generally available with localized data processing

Anthropic’s Unique Safety Position:

• Constitutional AI methodology reduces risks of misuse
• Transparent AI Safety Level (ASL) framework for capability assessment
• ASL-3 models undergo enhanced security and safety testing
• Commitment to responsible scaling and safety-first development
• Public research publications on AI safety and alignment

Enterprise Security Considerations

For Government and Regulated Industries:

• Enhanced security features for sensitive deployments
• Private deployment options via AWS or Google Cloud
• Custom data retention and handling procedures
• Advanced audit logging and monitoring
• Incident response and security support
• Dedicated account management and compliance assistance

Supply Chain Security:

• Primary dependency on AWS infrastructure (Amazon)
• Secondary infrastructure through Google Cloud
• Hardware sourced from U.S.-aligned cloud providers
• Regular security audits of cloud partnerships
• Monitoring for supply chain vulnerabilities

Data Sovereignty Recommendations:

• Assess data classification before Claude adoption
• Use regional processing options for sensitive data
• Implement encryption for data in transit and at rest
• Establish data retention policies aligned with regulations
• Monitor compliance with evolving AI regulations
• Consider private deployment for highest-sensitivity workloads

Comparison with Competitors:

References

• Anthropic: Company Values
• Introducing Claude Opus 4.5
• Introducing Claude Sonnet 4.5
• Introducing Claude 4
• Claude Opus 4.5 Product Page
• Claude Sonnet 4.5 Product Page
• System Card: Claude Opus 4 & Sonnet 4
• Constitutional AI: Harmlessness from AI Feedback
• Anthropic News: Introducing Claude
• Claude’s Constitution Explained
• Updates to Consumer Terms and Privacy Policy
• Wikipedia: Claude (language model)
• GitHub: Claude Sonnet 4 and Opus 4 in Copilot
• PromptLayer: Claude 4 Release