GoKawiilAnthropic study of 207,000 sessions shows Claude mostly used for data analysis, not idea generation
Anthropic analyzed 207,000 Claude and Claude Code research sessions using privacy-preserving methods to map how scientists use the AI across fields and tasks. It found heavier relative use in formal sciences like computer science, mathematics and statistics, and lighter use in health and lab-based physical sciences, with data analysis and writing dominating usage—accounting for roughly a third of Claude sessions and nearly half of Claude Code sessions.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The gap between how scientists currently use AI (mostly for analysis and writing) and what they say matters most (idea generation and data gathering) suggests general-purpose AI tools may not yet be optimized for the most valuable parts of research. Anthropic's finding that its specialized Claude Science product shows roughly double the idea-generation share hints that purpose-built scientific AI tools could better align AI capabilities with researcher priorities. This could inform how AI companies and research institutions prioritize future tool development.
- Anthropic studied 207,000 Claude and Claude Code sessions to understand scientific AI usage patterns.
- Claude is used more heavily in formal sciences like math and computer science than in health or lab-based physical sciences.
- Scientists mainly use Claude for data analysis and writing, not idea generation, despite rating idea generation as most important.
Source: anthropic.com, 2026-11-06
Published there as: “AI for scientific discovery: How researchers use Claude”
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