Anthropic just scooped up Vercept, a Seattle-based startup building AI agents that can navigate computer applications like humans, even as Meta simultaneously poached one of its co-founders. The acquisition signals how intensely AI giants are competing for talent and technology in agentic AI - systems that can autonomously complete multi-step tasks. Vercept's computer-use capabilities could supercharge Anthropic's own agent ambitions, which it's been testing since late 2024.
Anthropic is betting big on AI agents that can actually use computers. The company just acquired Vercept, a Seattle-based startup that's been building sophisticated computer-use agents capable of navigating applications and completing tasks the way a person with a laptop would. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the timing tells you everything about the current AI landscape.
Here's where it gets messy: Meta hired one of Vercept's co-founders right as the acquisition was closing, according to TechCrunch. It's a striking example of how AI giants are simultaneously competing for entire companies and individual engineers. When talent is this scarce, even acquisition targets aren't safe from poaching.
Vercept's technology fits perfectly into Anthropic's roadmap. The Claude maker has been experimenting with computer-use capabilities since October 2024, when it first released a beta feature allowing its AI to control computers, click buttons, type text, and navigate software interfaces. But that early version was clunky and prone to errors. Vercept's more mature agentic tools could help Anthropic leap ahead.
The startup specialized in what the industry calls "complex agentic tools" - AI systems that don't just answer questions but actually complete multi-step workflows. Think of an agent that could file your expense reports by logging into your accounting software, uploading receipts, categorizing spending, and submitting for approval. That's the promise Vercept was building toward, and it's exactly what enterprise customers keep asking for.
