Artificial intelligence is advancing at an unprecedented pace even for technology, but its future depends on collaboration, transparency, and open standards. Anthropic’s recent decision to donate the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) under the Linux Foundation is a major step toward ensuring that agentic AI remains accessible and community-driven.
Understanding the Model Context Protocol
Introduced just a year ago, MCP has quickly become a universal standard for linking AI applications with external systems. Its adoption is impressive and widespread, demonstrating its importance:
- Widespread Adoption: More than 10,000 public MCP servers now support a range of solutions, from developer tools to large-scale enterprise deployments.
- Platform Integration: MCP is built into popular AI products like ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Visual Studio Code.
- Enterprise-Grade Support: Cloud leaders such as AWS, Google Cloud, Cloudflare, and Microsoft Azure provide robust support for MCP implementations.
Further, Claude’s directory now lists over 75 connectors, and new features like advanced tool search and programmatic tool calling enable developers to efficiently manage thousands of tools at scale. The official MCP registry helps with server discovery, while protocol enhancements such as asynchronous operations, statelessness, server identity, and extensibility drive reliability and flexibility. MCP SDKs are now available in every major programming language, with over 97 million monthly downloads for Python and TypeScript alone.
Openness and Vendor Neutrality at the Core
MCP was designed from the ground up to be open-source and vendor-neutral. Its governance model prioritizes community input and clear, transparent decision-making. By transferring stewardship to the Linux Foundation, Anthropic ensures MCP’s continued neutrality and invites broader, community-led development, following the path set by open-source successes like The Linux Kernel and Kubernetes.
The Agentic AI Foundation: A Hub for Collaboration
The newly established Agentic AI Foundation, operating as a directed fund under the Linux Foundation, brings together influential organizations such as Anthropic, Block, and OpenAI. Industry giants like Google, Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare, and Bloomberg have pledged their support, underscoring the foundation’s commitment to collaborative, transparent, and public-benefit advancements in agentic AI. MCP now joins other foundational tools, including Block’s Goose and OpenAI’s AGENTS.md within AAIF, creating a comprehensive ecosystem for agentic AI standards and tools.
What This Means for the Future of AI
Donating MCP is more than a symbolic gesture; it is a firm commitment to open AI standards and shared innovation. The project’s governance will remain in the hands of its maintainers and the global community, ensuring that MCP continues to evolve based on real-world needs and collective expertise.
Anthropic and its partners are dedicated to investing in MCP’s future and the wider agentic AI ecosystem. This collaborative, open-source approach enhances security, accelerates innovation, and expands the practical utility of AI systems for everyone.
Laying the Groundwork for Trustworthy AI
Anthropic’s contribution of the Model Context Protocol to the Agentic AI Foundation offers a powerful blueprint for open innovation in artificial intelligence. By prioritizing accessibility, transparency, and community governance, this move builds the foundation for a more reliable, interoperable, and forward-thinking future for agentic AI.
Discover more or join the community at modelcontextprotocol.io and aaif.io.
Source: Anthropic
Open Standards for Agentic AI: Anthropic Donates Model Context Protocol to the Linux Foundation