While OpenAI dominates the headlines and Google counters with Gemini, one company is working more quietly – but possibly more sustainably – on the future of AI: Anthropic. Founded by former OpenAI researchers, the company pursues a radically different approach. At the Amsterdam Tech Conference 2026, it became clear why this matters.
The Origin Story: A Deliberate Break
Dario and Daniela Amodei didn't leave OpenAI in 2021 out of conflict – but out of conviction. They believed that AI safety must not be a side issue, but must define the core product. Anthropic was founded with a clear mission: to build AI systems that are reliable, interpretable, and controllable.
That sounds like marketing – but it isn't. Anthropic invests more research capacity into safety than any competitor. The result is noticeable.
Claude: More Than a ChatGPT Competitor
Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant, differs fundamentally from the competition:
- Constitutional AI: Claude follows a set of rules that embeds ethical principles into the architecture – not as a filter on top, but as part of the training
- Honesty as a Feature: Claude says "I don't know" instead of hallucinating. That sounds trivial, but it's a technical breakthrough
- Context Window: With up to 200,000 tokens, Claude can analyze entire books, codebases, or legal documents in context
- Claude Code: A CLI tool that works directly in the terminal and can autonomously solve complex programming tasks
Amsterdam 2026: Safety Becomes a Business Argument
At the conference in Amsterdam, a paradigm shift became evident. Companies no longer just ask "What can the AI do?" – they ask "Can we trust it?". And this is exactly where Anthropic excels.
Three observations from the conference:
- Enterprise customers want control: The biggest deals go to AI providers that offer transparency and controllability. Anthropic's "Constitutional AI" approach delivers exactly that.
- Regulation is coming: The EU AI Act makes safety-by-design mandatory. Anthropic is prepared for this – others need to catch up.
- The developer community is growing: The API, Claude Code, and the Agent SDK are attracting a growing developer community that values quality over hype.
What Sets Anthropic Apart from OpenAI and Google
The difference lies not in technology alone – but in philosophy:
That doesn't mean Anthropic is perfect. But their approach of viewing safety as a competitive advantage rather than a brake could prove smarter in the long run.
What This Means for Us at INTIMEON
We work with Claude every day. Not because it's the loudest product on the market – but because it's the most reliable. For our clients, that means: code that works. Content that's accurate. Analyses you can trust.
The Amsterdam conference confirmed what we experience in practice: the future doesn't belong to the fastest AI – but to the most dependable one.
Conclusion
Anthropic is no longer an underdog. With Claude as its flagship, a growing enterprise base, and the strongest safety track record in the industry, the company is positioning itself as a serious counterpart to OpenAI and Google. Anyone looking to integrate AI into their business should take a close look – not just at features, but at values.