Anthropic Study: Scientists Use Claude for Analysis, Not Ideas
An Anthropic analysis of 207,049 research sessions finds scientists lean on Claude for data analysis and writing, far less for generating hypotheses.
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giftdetect· the right gift in minutesScientists use Claude mainly to analyze data and write up findings, and much less to come up with hypotheses. That is the main result of an Anthropic study covering more than 207,000 research-related sessions.
In a report titled "AI for scientific discovery: How researchers use Claude", the team analyzed 207,049 sessions between August 2 and September 30, 2026. The sample included Claude and Claude Code, and the report also examined Claude Science. Research tasks were classified with tools designed to protect the privacy of session content.
Analysis and writing dominate
Data analysis made up 33.7% of research sessions in Claude and 48.1% in Claude Code. Scientific writing and communication accounted for 32% of sessions in Claude, against 17.6% in Claude Code.
Idea and hypothesis generation was far rarer: 4.2% of Claude sessions and 2.1% of Claude Code sessions. Yet in a survey of 528 scientists, respondents ranked hypothesis generation and data gathering among the tasks that matter most for producing scientific knowledge.
Use also varied by field. Computer science, mathematics and statistics showed heavier use relative to the size of their research communities, while relative use was lower in fields built around lab work and fieldwork.
Could AI double research output?
The researchers offered estimates suggesting that research output in some fields could double if today's AI capabilities were widely adopted. The odds rise in scenarios that assume most non-physical tasks are automated.
The figures are projections built on assumptions, not scientific output that has already been achieved. The study is also an institutional research report rather than a peer-reviewed paper. Its data reflects use of Anthropic's tools and the sample analyzed, so it does not represent all scientists or all AI systems.
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