Anthropic · 2026-10-28 · notable
Anthropic AI for Science — free Claude credits now flow through 20 partners
Anthropic is expanding its AI for Science program beyond single researchers: funders such as the Sloan Foundation, Simons Foundation and the US NSF will hand out free Claude credits, and institutes like EMBL and the Crick will use them.
Anthropic's free Claude credits for scientists now reach researchers through foundations, institutes and big open projects.
What is it?
Anthropic's AI for Science program, launched in May 2025, now works with 20 foundations, institutions and research groups. Science funders and societies — the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Simons Foundation, Schmidt Sciences, Renaissance Philanthropy's Open Source for Science Fund, the US National Science Foundation and CAS — will distribute free Claude credits to the researchers they support.
How does it work?
The partners fall into three groups. Funders pass credits on to their grantees; institutes such as the Space Telescope Science Institute, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Francis Crick Institute, EMBL and Gladstone Institutes use the credits internally; and named projects such as FlyWire (Princeton), gnomAD (Broad Institute) and AstroPath (Johns Hopkins) get support directly.
Why does it matter?
Until now a scientist had to apply to Anthropic alone. Routing credits through funders and institutes means many more labs can get Claude access through channels they already use, and Anthropic expects much of the work to produce public goods such as open datasets and open-source software.
Who is it for?
academic scientists and research institutes
Try it
Ask your funder or institute whether it is an AI for Science partner; individual researchers can still apply via anthropic.com/news/ai-for-science-program