Anthropic's AI for Science Program: Because Researchers Love Free Stuff More Than Lab Mice

In a groundbreaking move that has absolutely nothing to do with wanting good PR, Anthropic has decided to throw some pocket change at the scientific community. Their new "AI for Science" program promises to support researchers with the hefty sum of $20,000 in API credits. That's right, folks—for the price of a decent used car, scientists can now harness the power of AI to maybe, possibly, accelerate their research.

"We're committed to supporting high-impact scientific projects," said an Anthropic spokesperson, while subtly avoiding the question of whether they'd accept "high-impact" as a euphemism for "likely to get us more investors." The program, which focuses on biology and life sciences, is apparently only for "qualified" researchers. Because nothing says "scientific inclusivity" like a bureaucratic selection process.

Here's how it works: researchers submit their projects, Anthropic picks the ones that sound the most impressive at dinner parties, and then—boom—$20,000 in API credits that will probably be spent in the first week. "It's like giving a kid a gift card to a candy store," said one researcher, who asked to remain anonymous because they still haven't figured out how to use the API. "Except the candy is machine learning models and the store is, well, also machine learning models."

But don't worry, this isn't just a blatant attempt to get more people hooked on Anthropic's services. Oh no. This is about science. The kind of science that, if successful, will undoubtedly lead to more funding for Anthropic. It's a win-win! Or at least, it's a win for Anthropic. The researchers will have to settle for the satisfaction of knowing they contributed to the greater good (and maybe a footnote in a future press release).

So, if you're a researcher looking to get your hands on some sweet, sweet API credits, now's your chance. Just remember: the early bird gets the worm, but the early researcher gets the bragging rights of saying they were "selected" by an AI company. And isn't that what science is all about?