MCP: The new “USB-C for AI” that’s bringing fierce rivals together
1 min read
Summary
OpenAI and Anthropic, who competed in the AI market with their AI assistants, have found themselves working together recently, despite having parted ways when Anthropic’s founders left OpenAI in 2020.
The common ground between the two companies now is that they both want to make it easier for AI models to access external data sources and services without the need for service-specific integrations.
To achieve this, Anthropic developed the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open-source specification that allows AI models to connect seamlessly with outside services, akin to how a USB-C port would work with various cables and ports.
MCP is integrating into Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service and has garnered support from many other tech companies, as well as developing interest from the open-source community on GitHub, thus indicating a push for standardization when it comes to AI connectivity.
