Anthropic is proposing a new standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data resides. Called the Model Context Protocol, or MCP for short, Anthropic says the standard, which it open sourced today, could help AI models produce better, more relevant responses to queries. MCP lets models — any models, not just Anthropic’s — draw data from sources like business tools and software to complete tasks, as well as from content repositories and app development environments. “As AI assistants gain mainstream adoption, the industry has invested heavily in model capabilities, achieving rapid advances in reasoning and quality,” Anthropic wrote in a blog post. “Yet even the most sophisticated models are constrained by their isolation from data — trapped behind information silos and legacy systems. Every new data source requires its own custom implementation, making truly connected systems difficult to scale.” MCP ostensibly solves this problem through a protocol that enables developers to build two-way connections between data sources and AI-powered applications (e.g., chatbots). Developers can expose data through “MCP servers” and build “MCP clients” — for instance, apps and workflows — that connect to those servers on command.

Full report : Anthropic releases Model Context Protocol to standardize AI-data integration.