The company is now routing free Claude credits through foundations, institutions and named research projects instead of only individual scientists
Anthropic is giving its scientific outreach a new delivery system. The company has named 20 scientific foundations, institutions and research groups as partners in an expanded version of its AI for Science program.
The premise hasn’t changed: free Claude credits for researchers working on high-impact science. The difference is who hands them out.
From individual grants to institutional pipes
When the program launched in May 2025, it was built around individual researchers. Scientists applied, and qualifying projects received free access to Claude through the API.
The partnerships fall into three groups. Six organizations act as funders and scientific societies, passing Claude credits along to the researchers they already support.
Among the names in that funder category are the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the US National Science Foundation.
A second group of six institutions will use the credits internally for their own research. That list includes the Space Telescope Science Institute and Imperial College London.
The third group is the most specific. Six named research projects will receive direct grants of credits.
Two of those projects are FlyWire at Princeton University and AstroPath at Johns Hopkins. Other collaborators named in the expansion include the HHMI Janelia Research Campus and the Allen Institute.
The disciplines covered span biology, medicine, physics, chemistry, climate science, mathematics and neuroscience.
What scientists actually do with Claude
Anthropic says hundreds of projects have tapped the program since it began. Researchers have told the company they use Claude to generate hypotheses, design experiments, analyze complex data quickly and communicate their results.
A discounted Claude Team plan aimed at scientists launched around August 2026, offering free standard seats alongside premium seats that cost money.
Larger projects can now receive direct support of up to $50,000 in credits.
Why the partnership model matters
Foundations and federal science agencies already run rigorous review processes. By routing credits through them, Anthropic effectively outsources the question of which projects deserve support to people whose job is answering exactly that.
For funders like the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the US National Science Foundation, the partnership adds a new kind of resource to their toolkit. Alongside money, they can now offer the researchers they back access to a frontier AI model.
For institutions like the Space Telescope Science Institute or Imperial College London, internal use of credits lets their teams experiment with AI-assisted analysis without committing their own budgets upfront.
