What Is Anthropic? AI Company Behind Claude

Last Updated: June 2025

Anthropic is an AI safety company founded in 2021 in San Francisco, California. It builds and deploys Claude, an AI assistant used by people and organizations worldwide. Anthropic operates as a Public Benefit Corporation and describes its mission as the responsible development of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. It is a separate, independent company from OpenAI. Traders seeking speculative exposure to Anthropic's private-market valuation can do so through ANTHROPICUSDT, a perpetual futures contract listed on Bybit.

Anthropic at a Glance

Anthropic operates in the generative AI space (technology that generates text, code, images, and other content in response to user input). This article covers the company's founding story, its mission and safety approach, what Claude does, how Anthropic makes money, and how it compares to OpenAI.

Anthropic's Founding Story: From OpenAI to Building Safer AI

In 2021, a group of researchers who had been working at OpenAI left to start a company of their own. They weren't leaving because the work had stalled. They left because they believed the AI field needed a company whose primary commitment was to safety research, and they felt that commitment needed to be built into the company's structure from the start.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei (CEO) and Daniela Amodei (President), along with approximately nine other former OpenAI researchers and executives. Dario had served as VP of Research at OpenAI before the departure. Daniela had served as VP of Operations. The two are siblings, and together they represent Anthropic's two core functions: Dario leads the technical and research direction, while Daniela oversees the operational and business side of the company.

The founding group's decision to leave OpenAI was rooted in a difference of priorities rather than a personal dispute. As AI systems grew more capable, the founders believed the industry needed stronger structural commitments to safety research before deploying models at scale. They started Anthropic specifically to build that kind of organization.

What made Anthropic's founding structurally different from a typical tech startup was the decision to incorporate as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), explained in more detail in the next section. That legal choice signaled that the safety mission wasn't just a marketing line. It was written into the company's founding documents.

Since its founding, Anthropic has grown from a research-focused startup into one of the more prominent AI companies in the industry, raising billions in funding and releasing successive generations of Claude models to a growing global user base.

Anthropic's Mission: Building AI That Is Safe and Beneficial

Anthropic describes its mission as "the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity." That is a statement many technology companies make in some form. What distinguishes Anthropic, at least structurally, is how it has tried to embed that mission into both its legal structure and its technical methodology.

AI safety, as a research field, focuses on ensuring that AI systems behave as intended, avoid causing harm, and remain under meaningful human oversight as they become more capable. This is distinct from cybersecurity and data privacy, though those concerns overlap at the edges. The safety research Anthropic conducts centers on questions like: how do you train a model to refuse harmful requests without making it too restrictive? How do you ensure a more capable model remains aligned with human intentions?

Anthropic's Responsible Scaling Policy commits the company to specific safety thresholds before deploying more capable models. This is one concrete mechanism that goes beyond a general claim of safety-mindedness.

A related concept worth distinguishing is AI alignment, the specific technical challenge of ensuring AI systems pursue goals that match human intentions rather than proxy metrics that diverge from what users actually want. Anthropic's research agenda centers heavily on alignment work. AI ethics, the broader normative field addressing questions of how AI should be developed and used responsibly, provides the wider context within which both safety and alignment research sit.

Anthropic's legal structure reinforces its stated mission. Unlike a standard corporation, which is legally required to prioritize shareholder returns, a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) can legally embed a social or environmental mission into its founding charter. For Anthropic, this means the company can invest in long-term safety research even when doing so does not maximize short-term revenue. A PBC is a specific US legal entity type and is distinct from B Corp certification, which is a third-party certification from B Lab rather than a legal structure. Anthropic is structured as a PBC, not a certified B Corp.

How Anthropic Builds Safer AI: Constitutional AI Explained

Anthropic's safety approach is not limited to policy statements. The company developed a specific training methodology for building AI systems that minimize harmful outputs. That methodology is called Constitutional AI.

What Is Constitutional AI?

Constitutional AI is a training method in which an AI model is given a set of written principles, called a "constitution," and trained to evaluate its own responses against those principles before producing an output. If a response would violate one of the principles, the model is trained to revise it. This allows safety guidelines to scale across millions of interactions without requiring a human reviewer to evaluate every single model output.

Think of it as giving the model a rulebook and then teaching the model to check its own answers against that rulebook before responding. A response that violates a principle gets revised. A response that passes gets sent through. The process happens during training, not as a filter applied afterward.

Most AI models are trained using a technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), in which human evaluators rate model outputs to help the model learn what good responses look like. Constitutional AI, described in Anthropic's 2022 Constitutional AI research paper, supplements this process by adding a self-critique layer. The model evaluates its own outputs against written principles, reducing the volume of human review required while maintaining consistent safety standards across a wide range of topics.

Constitutional AI is Anthropic's specific approach to this problem, not a universal industry standard. Other AI developers use different combinations of training techniques. What makes Constitutional AI notable is the structured, principle-driven nature of the self-evaluation process and the fact that Anthropic published its methodology openly for the research community.

What Is Claude? Anthropic's AI Assistant Explained

Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant, is the product most people encounter first when they interact with the company's work. It is Anthropic's primary product and the focus of its safety research.

What Can Claude Do?

Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant, built on a large language model (LLM), which is a type of AI trained on large amounts of text to understand and generate human language. It can answer questions, write and edit content, analyze documents, summarize long texts, write code, and hold extended conversations.

In practical terms, Claude handles tasks like drafting emails, explaining complex topics in plain language, reviewing legal or research documents, generating code in multiple programming languages, and working through multi-step reasoning problems. Like ChatGPT from OpenAI, Claude is a conversational AI assistant, though the two are made by different companies and take different approaches to safety and model design. A detailed comparison appears in the Anthropic vs. OpenAI section below.

Claude is not a search engine and does not browse the internet in real time by default. Its knowledge comes from the data it was trained on, which has a cutoff date. For tasks requiring up-to-date information, users should verify outputs against current sources.

Claude Model Tiers: Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus

Anthropic offers Claude in multiple versions, each designed for different use cases and performance requirements. As of mid-2025, the current lineup includes the Claude 3 family and the Claude 3.5 Sonnet model. Verify the current model offerings at Anthropic's official Claude product page before making deployment decisions, as the lineup continues to evolve.

For most everyday tasks, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Claude 3 Sonnet is the recommended starting point. Claude 3 Opus is better suited for tasks that require the most thorough reasoning. Claude 3 Haiku is the right choice when speed and cost efficiency matter more than maximum capability.

How to Access Claude

Claude is available at claude.ai. Getting started takes three steps:

1. Visit claude.ai
2. Create a free account
3. Start a conversation

No payment is required to get started. The free tier provides access to standard Claude models with usage limits. Claude Pro, a paid subscription plan, offers higher usage limits and priority access to newer models. Claude is also available as a mobile app for iOS and Android. For current pricing on Claude Pro, see anthropic.com/pricing.

Developers and businesses can access Claude programmatically through the Anthropic API, which allows Claude to be integrated directly into existing software products. Claude is also available through Amazon Web Services (AWS) via Amazon Bedrock, which provides an enterprise-grade deployment channel for organizations already operating in the AWS ecosystem.

Who Funds Anthropic? Investors and Financial Backing

As of early 2025, Anthropic has raised more than $7 billion in total funding, making it one of the most well-capitalized private AI companies in the world.

The largest single investment came from Amazon, which committed up to $4 billion to Anthropic in a partnership announced in September 2023. That investment included a strategic component: Claude became available through AWS Bedrock, Amazon's managed AI service, making Anthropic's models accessible to Amazon's enterprise cloud customers.

Google has also invested in Anthropic, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars across multiple funding rounds. Google is simultaneously an investor in Anthropic and a direct competitor in the AI assistant market through its own product, Google Gemini. This dual relationship reflects the complex financial dynamics that have become common in the AI industry.

Despite these large investments, Anthropic remains an independent company. Neither Amazon nor Google owns or controls Anthropic. Both hold financial stakes, but the company is led by its founders and operates independently as a Public Benefit Corporation.

As of 2025, Anthropic is a private company and is not listed on any stock exchange. No confirmed IPO date has been announced. Anthropic's valuation was reported at approximately $61 billion based on its most recent funding round, though as a private company these figures reflect reported estimates rather than publicly audited financial statements. For a detailed breakdown of Anthropic's valuation and funding rounds, see Anthropic Valuation 2026: How Much Is the Company Worth?.

For the latest on Anthropic's IPO outlook and what a public listing would mean for investors, see Anthropic IPO 2026: Everything Investors Need to Know.

How Does Anthropic Make Money?

Anthropic generates revenue through three primary channels: API access, consumer subscriptions, and enterprise contracts.

1. Anthropic API Businesses and developers pay to access Claude through the Anthropic API on a usage-based pricing model. This is Anthropic's primary B2B revenue stream and the mechanism through which most enterprise applications are built. Developers pay per amount of text processed, which scales with usage volume.

2. Claude Pro Subscription Individual users can upgrade to Claude Pro, a paid monthly subscription that provides higher usage limits, priority access to newer models, and access to extended features. The free tier at claude.ai provides meaningful access to Claude for users who want to try the product before committing to a subscription.

3. Enterprise Contracts Larger organizations negotiate custom contracts for dedicated capacity, enhanced data privacy terms, and specialized support. Enterprise customers may also deploy Claude through AWS Bedrock under Amazon's enterprise agreements.

For current pricing across all three tiers, see anthropic.com/pricing. Prices change as models are updated and the competitive landscape shifts.

As a Public Benefit Corporation, Anthropic's revenue model is intended to sustain long-term safety research rather than solely maximize returns. Profit is a means to fund the mission, not the stated end in itself.

What Is ANTHROPICUSDT? Trading Anthropic's Implied Valuation

Because Anthropic is a private company, retail investors cannot buy its equity through a standard brokerage account. Bybit has listed ANTHROPICUSDT — a USDT-margined perpetual futures contract — to allow traders to speculate on Anthropic's implied private-market valuation.

ANTHROPICUSDT is not Anthropic stock and does not confer any ownership rights in the company. It is a synthetic perpetual futures pair whose price reflects market sentiment about Anthropic's worth. The contract was listed as part of Bybit's pre-IPO perpetual instruments lineup. See the ANTHROPICUSDT and OPENAIUSDT new listing announcement for full contract details.

Trade ANTHROPICUSDT on Bybit — the primary exchange for this pre-IPO perpetual contract.

For real-time price data and market analysis on ANTHROPICUSDT, see ANTHROPICUSDT Stock Price Today: Live Data & Market Analysis.

For a complete trading guide including margin modes, leverage configuration, and risk management, see How to Trade ANTHROPICUSDT Perpetual Futures: A Complete Guide.

Anthropic vs. OpenAI: What's the Difference?

Anthropic and OpenAI are separate, competing companies, though many of Anthropic's founders previously worked at OpenAI before starting the company in 2021.

Anthropic vs. OpenAI: Two Different AI Companies

The two companies are often confused, but they operate independently, compete in the same market, and take different approaches to AI development and governance. OpenAI was founded in 2015 and is the maker of ChatGPT and the GPT series of models. Anthropic was founded in 2021 by people who left OpenAI to pursue a different structural approach to AI safety.

Their governance structures differ. Anthropic is structured as a Public Benefit Corporation, with its safety mission embedded in its legal charter. OpenAI began as a non-profit, later created a for-profit subsidiary, and has a governance structure that has evolved considerably since its founding. Neither structure is inherently superior; they represent different choices about how to organize a company that is both commercially active and mission-focused.

OpenAI has broader consumer recognition, a larger ecosystem of third-party integrations, and a longer operating history. Anthropic has a younger product line and places a stronger structural emphasis on safety through Constitutional AI and the PBC model.

Claude vs. ChatGPT: Side-by-Side Comparison

At the product level, Claude and ChatGPT are direct competitors. Both are AI assistants designed for similar everyday tasks, but they come from companies with distinct histories and priorities.

Claude vs. ChatGPT

Both are capable AI assistants. The better choice depends on the specific task, existing tool ecosystems, and how much weight the user places on safety methodology. Neither is objectively superior across all tasks. At the model level, Claude 3 Opus competes with OpenAI's GPT-4o for complex reasoning and analysis work.

Alongside ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, Claude is one of the three leading general-purpose AI assistants available to consumers and developers today. Google Gemini was previously known as Google Bard. Google is also an investor in Anthropic, making it both a financial backer and a market competitor, an unusual dynamic that reflects how entangled the AI industry's financial relationships have become.

Frequently Asked Questions About Anthropic

What is Anthropic and what do they do?

Anthropic is an AI safety company founded in 2021 that builds and deploys Claude, an AI assistant available to consumers and enterprise customers alike. The company describes its mission as the responsible development of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. It conducts AI safety research and makes Claude accessible through a consumer interface and a developer API.

What is Anthropic known for?

Anthropic is best known for two things: Claude, its AI assistant, and Constitutional AI, its training methodology for building AI systems that evaluate their own outputs against a set of written safety principles. The company is also notable for being founded by former OpenAI researchers who left to pursue a stronger structural commitment to AI safety.

Who founded Anthropic?

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei (CEO) and Daniela Amodei (President), along with approximately nine other former OpenAI researchers and executives. Dario previously served as VP of Research at OpenAI; Daniela served as VP of Operations. The founders left OpenAI to build a company with AI safety as a structural, rather than aspirational, priority.

Who owns Anthropic?

Anthropic is privately held and not publicly traded. Its major investors include Amazon, which committed up to $4 billion in September 2023, and Google, which has invested across multiple funding rounds. Neither company owns or controls Anthropic. The company operates as an independent Public Benefit Corporation led by its founding team.

Is Anthropic the same as OpenAI?

No. Anthropic and OpenAI are separate companies that compete in the same market. Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, but the two are independent organizations with different legal structures, different governance models, and different products. OpenAI makes ChatGPT; Anthropic makes Claude.

What is Constitutional AI?

Constitutional AI is Anthropic's training method for building AI models that behave safely. The model is given a set of written principles, a "constitution," and trained to evaluate its own responses against those principles. Outputs that violate a principle are revised before delivery. This allows safety guidelines to scale across many interactions without requiring human review of every output. Anthropic published this approach in a 2022 research paper.

How does Anthropic make money?

Anthropic generates revenue through three main channels: the Anthropic API, through which developers and businesses pay for programmatic access to Claude; Claude Pro, a paid monthly subscription for individual users who need higher usage limits; and enterprise contracts with larger organizations that require custom deployments, enhanced privacy terms, or dedicated capacity.

Is Anthropic publicly traded?

No, Anthropic is not publicly traded as of 2025. The company is a privately held Public Benefit Corporation with no confirmed IPO date. Its investors include Amazon and Google, but Anthropic operates independently and has not announced plans to list on a public exchange.

What is ANTHROPICUSDT?

ANTHROPICUSDT is a perpetual futures contract on Bybit that lets traders speculate on Anthropic's implied private-market valuation. It is not Anthropic stock and does not confer equity ownership. The contract is a synthetic instrument whose price reflects market sentiment about Anthropic's worth. Traders can access it at the ANTHROPICUSDT trading page on Bybit without needing accredited investor status.

Is Anthropic safe to use?

Anthropic describes its core mission as AI safety, and Claude is built using Constitutional AI training to reduce harmful outputs. The company also publishes model cards that document Claude's capabilities and limitations, and maintains a Responsible Scaling Policy that sets safety thresholds for deploying more capable models. Like all AI tools, Claude has limitations and can produce incorrect or unhelpful responses. Safety is a documented design priority, but no AI system is without risk of error.

Conclusion

Anthropic is an AI safety company, founded in 2021 by researchers who left OpenAI to build AI systems with safety as a structural priority rather than a stated aspiration. Its primary product is Claude, an AI assistant available to consumers and enterprises alike. Its primary technical differentiator is Constitutional AI, a training methodology that scales safety guidelines without requiring human review of every model output. Backed by Amazon and Google but independently operated, Anthropic occupies a distinct position in the AI industry: commercially competitive, structurally committed to a public benefit mission, and research-active in the field it describes as its reason for existing.

To try Claude for yourself, visit claude.ai, where a free account requires no payment to get started. To trade ANTHROPICUSDT and speculate on Anthropic's implied valuation, visit Bybit's ANTHROPICUSDT trading page.

Related Reading

• ANTHROPICUSDT Stock Price Today: Live Data & Market Analysis
• Anthropic IPO 2026: Everything Investors Need to Know
• Anthropic Valuation 2026: How Much Is the Company Worth?
• How to Trade ANTHROPICUSDT Perpetual Futures: A Complete Guide