Anthropic quietly begins its Australian charm offensive
The company behind Claude is wooing VCs and other figures in the ecosystem— but taking a markedly different approach in Australia to its rival OpenAI.
AI lab Anthropic has been quietly laying the foundations for an Australian expansion, but unlike its chief rival OpenAI, which arrived in December with a splashy launch party, it's taking a slower, low-key approach.
While Anthropic's latest Claude model is the darling of the moment outperforming OpenAI's GPT-5.2 on key benchmarks and becoming the preferred tool among many developers, the company is yet to establish a formal presence on Australian shores, with no local hires announced and no physical office opening on the immediate horizon.
But it is working behind the scenes to establish ties in the local market.
The clearest public signal on this is set to come this week when Anthropic is confirmed as a major sponsor of Blackbird's annual Sunrise conference.
