Anthropic is advancing the development of open AI standards with its donation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to the nonprofit Linux Foundation. The announcement was made on Tuesday, and the newly established Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) will oversee the initiative. This collaborative effort aims to enhance the interoperability of AI applications by providing a universal standard that allows these systems to connect with external platforms.
Co-founded by Anthropic, Block, and OpenAI, and supported by major industry players like Google, AWS, Microsoft, Cloudflare, and Bloomberg, the AAIF seeks to promote transparent development within the realm of agentic AI. Anthropic’s MCP donation complements existing projects, such as OpenAI’s Agents.md—an open format guiding AI agent development—and Block’s AI agent Goose, marking these as foundational projects within the AAIF framework.
Jim Scheibmeir, a Gartner Analyst, emphasized the significance of adopting such standards in a recent email, stating, “The more often tech companies implement and improve upon this standard, the faster we work towards that plateau of productivity, and that’s what we need for increased enterprise adoption.”
As enterprises increasingly explore the capabilities of AI agents, establishing standards for their development becomes critical. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 40% of enterprise applications will incorporate task-specific AI agents. Various sectors, including retail, financial services, beauty products, and food and beverage, are evaluating how AI agents can enhance customer service, assist employees, and streamline operations. For instance, Walmart is deploying “super agents” to refine customer shopping experiences and centralize supplier information.
With businesses actively identifying and utilizing AI solutions, vendors are taking proactive steps to ensure that a rapidly expanding number of agents can communicate effectively. Anthropic first introduced the MCP in November 2024, and it has gained traction, being adopted by systems such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and Gemini. Salesforce’s announcement in June 2025 that Agentforce 3 would also support MCP underscores the importance of interoperability in AI strategies.
The AAIF aims to provide a neutral foundation to foster an open ecosystem for standards, innovation, and tools tailored for AI agent development, according to the Linux Foundation. Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, remarked in a press release, “Within just one year, MCP, AGENTS.md, and goose have become essential tools for developers building this new class of agentic technologies.” He added that the collaboration under the AAIF would ensure these projects evolve with the transparency and stability that open governance offers.
Despite the optimism surrounding MCP, its implementation is not without challenges. Security concerns and the need for frequent updates pose potential hurdles for early adopters. Nevertheless, Scheibmeir remains positive about the protocol’s future, noting that the donation to the Linux Foundation will likely prove beneficial. He stated, “The more enterprises experience [MCP] through vendor-created solutions, the more enterprises will implement within their own software engineering efforts.”
As the demand for AI agents continues to rise, the establishment of standards like MCP is likely to play a pivotal role in shaping the future landscape of enterprise AI solutions. This initiative not only facilitates better communication between AI systems but also aligns with the growing emphasis on transparency and collaborative innovation within the tech industry.
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