Meta and Microsoft cut back staff use of Anthropic's Claude
Meta and Microsoft, two of Anthropic's biggest business customers, are cutting how much their employees use its Claude AI tools, The Information reported Monday. Microsoft had been on pace to spend at least $1 billion a year on Claude for its own staff and has cut that by more than a third. Both are steering workers to in-house tools.
Two tech giants are tightening the tab on a rival's AI. Meta and Microsoft are moving to lower their employees' use of Claude, the AI made by Anthropic, according to a report Monday by The Information, a tech news site. The report was picked up by The Decoder and by TheFly on Markets Insider.
Microsoft executives earlier this year projected the company was on pace to spend at least $1 billion on its own internal use of Anthropic's technology, the report said. Microsoft has since cut that figure by more than a third, citing a person familiar with the matter. Executives Scott Guthrie and Jay Parikh told employees to use in-house tools like GitHub Copilot and OpenAI's models instead, The Decoder reported.
At Meta, the number of employees using Claude Code, Anthropic's coding assistant, fell from about 60,000 to about 30,000, according to The Decoder's account of the report. Part of that drop came from layoffs. Part came from Meta pushing its own coding tools. In one 28-day stretch, Meta spent more than $105 million on Claude Code alone, The Decoder said.
Cost is the plain reason. Meta had already rolled out AI cost cuts in June. But there is a second reason. Anthropic has grown fast and now sells products that compete with its biggest customers. The Decoder pointed to Anthropic's Claude Cowork and OpenAI's ChatGPT Work as tools that are starting to look like alternatives to Microsoft Office.
That turns a supplier into a rival.
The pullback is about what these companies' own employees use at work, not what the public can buy. Still, the shift shows how fast AI spending inside big companies can swing, and how much a few corporate buyers matter to an AI lab's revenue.
The reports cite unnamed people familiar with the plans. They did not include statements from Meta, Microsoft or Anthropic.
What we know: Microsoft has cut planned internal Claude spending by more than a third, per The Information.
What we don't: How the pullback affects Anthropic's overall revenue.
Where outlets agree The Decoder and TheFly both relay The Information's report that Microsoft has cut its projected $1 billion-plus internal Claude spending by more than a third.
Where they differ The reports cite cost savings, while The Decoder argues rising competition from Anthropic's own products is also a driver, a motive the companies have not confirmed.