On March 31, 2026, Anthropic signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Australian government to cooperate on AI safety research and to support the goals of Australia’s National AI Plan. The agreement was formalized in Canberra during a meeting between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Key commitments under the MOU
The MOU centers on collaboration between Anthropic and Australia’s AI Safety Institute. Anthropic will share its findings on emerging model capabilities and risks, participate in joint safety and security evaluations, and collaborate on research with Australian academic institutions. The company says this approach mirrors similar arrangements it has with safety institutes in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, where early access and technical information sharing have helped governments form independent assessments of frontier AI and enabled developers to increase their models’ safety.
As part of the agreement, Anthropic will provide the Australian government with data from its Anthropic Economic Index to help monitor AI adoption across the economy, evaluate economic impacts, and assess implications for workers. Initial focus areas include sectors critical to Australia’s economy: natural resources, agriculture, healthcare and financial services. The partners also plan to develop initiatives to advance AI education and workforce training.
Anthropic’s recent Economic Index data indicates Australians already use the company’s Claude model for a broader variety of tasks than people in most other countries — the most diverse usage among English-speaking nations — often employing sophisticated prompts for high-skill tasks spanning management, sales and business operations, life sciences and everyday use. In line with Australia’s National AI Plan, Anthropic is also exploring investments in data centre infrastructure and energy across the country, aligned with the government’s recently announced data centre expectations.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, said: “Australia’s investment in AI safety makes it a natural partner for responsible AI development. This MOU gives our collaboration a formal foundation. I'm particularly excited by the work Australian research institutions will be doing with Claude to advance disease diagnosis and treatment.”
AUD$3 million for research partnerships and program expansion
Anthropic is extending its AI for Science program to Australia, beginning with AUD$3 million in Claude API credits allocated to four institutions applying AI to pressing scientific and medical challenges. New partnerships have been announced with Australian National University, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and Curtin University to support clinical genomics and precision medicine, pediatric research, and computing education.
- Australian National University (ANU): A multidisciplinary team from the ANU John Curtin School of Medical Research will use Claude to analyze genetic sequencing data to address rare diseases. The ANU School of Computing is also embedding Claude into new courses to train future developers and scientists.
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research: Garvan will use Claude in two major projects. One, in partnership with UNSW, aims to translate human genetic variation into insights about disease processes in specific cell types to identify new treatments. The second, with the Centre for Population Genomics (a joint initiative of Garvan and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute), will automate complex genetic analyses that currently bottleneck diagnosis of children with rare genetic conditions.
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute: The institute will apply Claude in its stem cell medicine program to improve identification of therapeutic targets for childhood heart disease.
- Curtin Institute for Data Science: Curtin’s data science institute will use Claude to scale collaborations with academics and to support research across health sciences, humanities, business, law, science and engineering.
Startup support and local expansion plans
Anthropic also announced its first deep-tech startup API credit program for VC-backed startups working on drug discovery, materials science, climate modelling and medical diagnostics. Eligible companies may receive up to USD$50,000 (about AUD$72,000) in API credits, plus resources and community support, as Anthropic builds its local team.
According to Anthropic, these investments reflect advanced work that Australian researchers and startups are already undertaking with Claude and directly support the objectives set out in Australia’s National AI Plan.
Beginning of longer-term presence in the region
The visit to Australia marks the start of Anthropic’s longer-term collaboration and investment in the Asia–Pacific region. The company said it will share more details about its local team and leadership in coming weeks as it prepares to open a Sydney office. The Australian government has published the MOU details.
