{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-09T21:13:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-05-anthropic-how-researchers-use-claude/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-11-05-anthropic-how-researchers-use-claude/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-11-05-anthropic-how-researchers-use-claude","date":"2026-11-05","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Anthropic study of 207,000 research sessions","deck":"AI could take on 27–52% of researcher time per study (median 38%)","takeaway":null,"category":"research","category_label":"Research","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"Anthropic Science Blog: Teaching AI to build scientific models","url":"https://www.anthropic.com/research/teaching-ai-to-build-scientific-models","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"anthropic.com"},{"n":2,"title":"Anthropic: AI for scientific discovery — how researchers use Claude","url":"https://www.anthropic.com/research/how-researchers-use-claude","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"anthropic.com"}],"official":2,"filed":"2026-11-08","updated":"2026-11-08","orgs":["Anthropic"],"title":"Anthropic study of 207,000 research sessions: AI could take on 27–52% of researcher time per study (median 38%)","summary":"Anthropic's Economics team (The Anthropic Institute) analysed 207,049 research sessions on Claude and Claude Code (Aug 2–Sept 30, 2026) plus a survey of 528 scientists, and estimated that under current capabilities and wide adoption AI could take on 27–52% of the researcher time needed to produce a new study, median 38% across fields.","key_facts":["Next day (Nov 6) Anthropic's Science Blog ran a guest essay by Jakob Macke, Daniel Gedon and Stefan Wahl (Tübingen) on how AI is changing scientific modelling, using Hodgkin-Huxley as a case study (X post ~427k views)","Data: 128,914 Claude (Chat and Cowork) and 78,135 Claude Code research sessions, consumer plans only, classified by a model into the SciNet taxonomy (7,262 tasks, 34 fields)","Lowest AI share in arts and anthropology, highest in statistics and computer science; lab sciences limited by physical work","Assumptions include AI at $30/hour vs $95/hour for a researcher; scenarios 'illustrative, not forecasts'","Survey respondents recruited from Anthropic grant applicants (likely heavier AI users)","Lead authors: Johannes Hermle, Ben Jones, Lukas Althoff"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["economics","science","usage-data","anthropic-economic-index"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nQuote: \"AI could take on 27–52% of the researcher time needed to produce a new study, with a median of 38% across\nfields.\" Physical experiments, equipment costs and idea quality are largely not modelled.","disputed":[],"related":[],"people":[],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-11-08","type":"edit","text":"Science Blog essay"},{"date":"2026-11-08","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-11-08","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-11-08","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-11-08"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":189,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":128,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-argon","name":"Gemini 4 Argon","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":219,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":158,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}