Anthropic launches free Claude plans for 10,000 scientists

Anthropic has launched a new Claude team plan for scientists, offering 10,000 free and discounted subscriptions for one year to academic and nonprofit researchers worldwide. Under this initiative, standard seats are completely free, while premium seats featuring five times the standard usage limits are priced at $15 per month. Principal investigators at qualifying institutions can register to add their lab members to the plan. The company plans to expand this program beyond the initial 10,000 seats in the coming months.

Alongside the subscription plans, Anthropic is broadening its AI for Science program. While the program previously focused on biological sciences, it is now expanding to support other fields, including compute-heavy research like protein design and studies on the Riemann zeta function. Researchers requiring more resources than the standard or premium plans provide can apply for up to $50,000 in credits per project.

The rollout includes specific guardrails for different AI models. Researchers in biology and chemistry remain limited to Opus-class models, while Claude Fable models will continue to block professional biology and drug development queries to mitigate safety concerns regarding dual-use technologies. To address this, Anthropic is partnering with the U.S. government on an access program that allows life sciences professionals to use Mythos-class models, with the first participants already enrolled.

Additionally, Anthropic is opening a research preview of its Model Hardware Standard, a shared specification designed to help AI agents safely operate physical devices, to select research labs and advanced manufacturers. The company is also launching a $5 million grant program to fund independent research into how artificial intelligence impacts human wellbeing.