Anthropic is proposing a new standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data lives, called Model Context Protocol (MCP).

The Model Context Protocol connects an AI system to multiple data sources, which Anthropic says can eliminate the need to create custom code for each one.

Anthropic says the software has already been adopted by several tech firms. Companies can connect their LLMs to external systems in a bid to make them more useful. An electronics maker, for example, could equip an LLM with the ability to answer customer support requests by giving it access to a repository of troubleshooting guides.

Anthropic has raised an additional $4 billion from Amazon, and has agreed to train its flagship generative AI models primarily on Amazon Web Services

In the case of Amazon and Anthropic, the companies maintain that teams are writing ‘low-level kernels,’ so that parts of the system can interface directly with the Trainium processor as hardware, in the words of spokespersons, the ‘Trainium silicon.’

On Friday, Anthropic announced that Amazon has increased its investment in the AI startup by $4 billion, bringing its total stake to $8 billion while maintaining its minority investor position. Anthropic makes Claude, an AI assistant rival to OpenAI's ChatGPT.