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Anthropic has officially acquired Vercept, a high-profile AI startup, to boost its agentic computer-use capabilities.

The global race for AI dominance has taken a new turn as Anthropic, the creator of the Claude AI, announced its acquisition of Vercept. 

This high-profile startup is famous for building "Vy," an AI agent that can actually operate a remote computer just like a human.

This deal follows Anthropic’s recent purchase of the coding engine Bun. It shows that the tech giant is determined to make its AI more than just a chatbot. They want agents that can perform complex tasks directly on your PC or in the cloud.

However, the acquisition has sparked a massive public row among the startup’s founders and investors. While Vercept’s CEO, Kiana Ehsani, is excited to join forces with Anthropic, others are not smiling.

Oren Etzioni, a legendary tech leader and Vercept co-founder, described the move as "throwing in the towel." He expressed disappointment that such a promising team is shutting down its own platform just one year after starting. 

This led to a heated exchange on LinkedIn, with investors accusing each other of poor leadership and even legal threats.

Despite the internal drama, the deal is a significant one. Vercept had raised a whopping $50 million from big names like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and DeepMind’s Jeff Dean. Clearly, the talent within the company was highly sought after by the industry’s biggest players.

Current users of Vercept’s tools don't have much time left. Anthropic has confirmed that the startup's existing products will be shut down officially on March 25. 

The core team will now move to Anthropic to help accelerate the vision of AI agents that can think and act on their own.

As the dust settles, this acquisition serves as a reminder of how high the stakes are in the AI world. While some see it as a brilliant exit, others see it as a missed opportunity for an independent winner.