What is Anthropic? The Company Behind Claude Explained (2026)

Beginner

TLDR

Anthropic is an AI safety company that created Claude. It was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers and focuses on building safe, reliable AI systems.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei (CEO), Daniela Amodei (President), and several colleagues who left OpenAI. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and focuses on AI safety research alongside building commercial AI products.

Anthropic's primary commercial product is Claude, an AI assistant available at claude.ai and via API. Claude is widely used for writing, coding, research, and analysis, and competes directly with ChatGPT.

Anthropic pioneered a technique called Constitutional AI, which trains models using a set of principles rather than relying solely on human feedback. The goal is to make Claude more honest, harmless, and helpful in a principled way.

The company has raised billions of dollars from Amazon, Google, and others, making it one of the best-funded AI labs in the world. Amazon has committed up to $4 billion, and Anthropic models are available through AWS.

In practice

Claude

Anthropic's AI assistant, available free at claude.ai with paid plans for heavier usage. Known for strong writing and long-context reasoning.

Constitutional AI

Anthropic's method for training AI to follow a set of principles, helping Claude refuse harmful requests and be honest about what it does not know.

Amazon partnership

Anthropic models are available through Amazon Bedrock, making Claude accessible to enterprise customers building on AWS.

Frequently asked questions

Is Anthropic the same as OpenAI?+

No. They are separate, competing companies. Anthropic was founded by people who left OpenAI, but the two companies have different investors, products, and research approaches.

Why did the founders leave OpenAI?+

The founders cited concerns about AI safety priorities and the direction of the company. They wanted to build an AI lab with safety more central to its mission.

Is Anthropic publicly traded?+

No, as of 2026 Anthropic is a private company. It has raised significant venture funding but has not announced plans for an IPO.

Bottom line

Anthropic is an AI safety company that created Claude. It was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers and focuses on building safe, reliable AI systems.