Anthropic PBC has acquired Vercept Inc., an artificial intelligence startup specializing in automating multistep tasks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Vercept's technology, including its desktop application Vy, allows users to automate tasks by observing and mimicking their actions.
Vercept's tool will be phased out, with customers advised to transition to Anthropic's Claude. This acquisition aims to significantly improve Claude's computer interaction capabilities, building on recent updates to its Claude Cowork desktop application. Claude Cowork, launched last month, can interact with local files, browse the web, and utilize user-created plugins.
The acquisition follows a recent surge in enterprise software stock selloffs after Anthropic released plugins for Claude Cowork designed to automate tasks in sales and project management. This move may also be a strategic response to competitors like OpenAI, which has developed similar agentic automation tools, and Perplexity AI, which recently launched its own automation tool, Perplexity Computer.
This marks Anthropic's second acquisition, following its purchase of Bun, an open-source JavaScript runtime, in December to enhance its Claude Code programming tools.