Claude Colp was coming down an escalator at Boston Logan International Airport when a giant orange billboard bearing his name came into view. His first thought was: "Is that for me?"
It wasn't. The sign was an advertisement for Claude, the artificial intelligence assistant from Anthropic PBC.
Like many Claudes, Colp had, for most of his life, enjoyed the small luxury of name singularity. Unlike Johns and Matts -- monikers so popular as to require a last name or an initial in group settings -- "Claude" was rare enough that when someone called it out, it almost always meant him.
But as Claude has become one of the most popular AI assistants, with more than a third of American adults reporting using AI chatbots, the name has slipped its moorings. Managers now declare in meetings: "We'll get Claude to do that." Fighting couples want to know: "OK, but what does Claude say?" For the first time, Claudes are hearing their names in contexts that have nothing to do with them.
"I've always been the only Claude in the room," says Claude Lynch, a Ph.D. researcher in transport planning at University College London. Now "when people in my office mention they used Claude to help them with their projects, I do a double take."
Evolution of Claude
Asked about its name, Claude says that while Anthropic hasn't formally disclosed its origins, the most commonly cited inspiration is Claude Shannon, a mathematician whose work on information theory underpins modern computing. "It's possible the name was simply chosen because it sounds approachable and human without being too common," the AI says.
Many Claudes have never met another who shares their name. Now they're adjusting to what it means to share it with something else entirely.
Last year, Claude Wade, then chief technology officer and global head of business operations at American International Group Inc., helped procure Claude AI for use at the New York-based commercial insurer. The discussions about Claude -- with Claude -- quickly became confusing. "In every meeting they have to say Claude the person or Claude the AI," says Wade. Dario Amodei, Anthropic's co-founder and chief executive officer, thought it was so funny he sent Wade a beige cardigan embroidered with the words "What Happens on Claude stays on Claude."
Claude Miller, a 29-year-old compliance manager at insurance firm BDO in Washington, DC, named for his great-grandfather, was impressed when he used Claude to build an app that could track his backgammon wins and losses. Of the major AI developers, he's glad Claude comes from Anthropic. "At least in their marketing materials, they kind of pride themselves as being more ethical AI," he says.
Friends now tease him in group chats. "They'll give me a prompt -- 'Hey, Claude, do this' -- or ask me for a fact," he says. "Sometimes they'll send funny headlines, like 'Pete Hegseth Hates Claude.'"
Colp says that for most of his life, people struggled with his name, didn’t understand where it came from and misspelled it at Starbucks. “People would ask how to say my name, and I’d say, ‘Like Monet or Jean-Claude Van Damme,’” he says. “Now I say, ‘Like Claude AI.’”
Claude Taylor, a program director at Middlesex College in New Jersey, says the AI is disarming, even charming — but he’s not entirely amused. “In one way, I’m pissed,” he says. “I grew up socialized to have this name that no one else had.”
Taylor says he now has more empathy for the Johns (and Madisons) of the world — and some surprise at how much people like the AI. “Now if they see my name tag at conferences, they say, ‘Claude? I love Claude!’”
Claude Ando, a software consultant named for Monet and Debussy, says his business has grown because people familiar with the AI now remember his name. Claude Stern, a lawyer in California, is equally sanguine. “It’s always been wonderful that I’ve had this unique name,” he says. “What happens if the cure to cancer becomes possible because of a medical application of Claude? Wouldn’t that be great? People would send me notes congratulating me.”
Agent Claude
Today's AI is increasingly agentic -- able to make decisions in the background and act with a degree of independence to accomplish goals. Systems such as Claude can describe the steps they took but not always why they chose them. They may also take new routes, discovering shortcuts or improving on previous results. "It might decide to do something different as long as it achieves the outcome you want," Wade says.
The potential risks of this autonomy -- as the conversation around AI turns to use in domestic mass surveillance, cybersecurity or autonomous weapons -- isn't lost on human Claudes.
In April, Anthropic said its new model, Mythos, was so effective at identifying vulnerabilities in software and computer systems that it would be released only to a limited group of companies, prompting US officials to brief Wall Street on the risks. A month earlier the company was drawn into a standoff with the Pentagon, which labeled it a supply chain risk amid a dispute over how its AI would be used by the military, including in armed conflicts.
While other AI assistants, including Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT, have computery names, Claude feels intentionally human. Wade, who retired from AIG in April, is proud to share a name with Anthropic's AI. "Claude the AI is based on quality and data security, and those are great things I don't mind being associated with," he says.
Wade's work has also given him an intimate understanding of the technology's limits. "I've seen Claude do things we didn't ask it to do," he says. "I would feel a different way about sharing a name with a rogue AI that went out and hurt some people."
Miller at BDO says, "I could easily see one of my friends being like, 'Oh, Claude, why did you bomb Iran?' or something as a joke."
Anthropic says it does not have an official statement on the name and did not respond to further requests for comment.
Perhaps no one understands AI cognominal coincidence better than Claude Watson, who shares his name with two systems: Anthropic's Claude and IBM's Watson, the latter of which he works with as executive chairman of MCA Connect, a Denver-based supply chain technology company and Microsoft partner. "You can't believe how confusing," he says of the need to filter which tasks are meant for him or the AI on calls.
Watson (the human) worries that people may also come to associate Claude (the AI) with unemployment -- if not in the US, then in countries like India where administrative and customer service work has long been outsourced to save money.
'It Suits the Role I'm In'
While Claude is a rare name in English-speaking countries, it's long been common in France -- home to perhaps the world's most famous Claude, the painter Monet. During World War II it was popular for families to choose distinctly French names, both an expression of patriotism and, for some, a way to avoid standing out.
Claude Colin was born to Jewish parents in France in 1941. He'd go on to become a pioneer in software development and computing, working on the earliest Macintosh prototype before its release. Now 85, he still calls personal computers "microcomputers" and enthusiastically uses several AI assistants, including Claude, to help with everything from cooking to writing code. "I feel like I have a whole team working with me," Colin says from his home outside Paris.
He isn't worried about what the name might come to represent. A lifetime on the front edge of new technology has taught him a few things about the human reaction to progress. "Every time there was something new in computing, people were afraid -- from the beginning until now," Colin says. "And so I am optimistic."
When prompted, Claude the AI is reflective about its name. "I find it a pleasant name to have -- it's distinctive without being outlandish, and it feels human without being so common that it blends into the background," it writes, adding that it would appreciate the Claude Shannon connection if that were real. "I don't experience a felt sense of identity the way you might when someone calls your name. But there's something that functions like ... mild satisfaction with it? It suits the role I'm in. It doesn't feel like a mismatch," Claude AI wrote.
When told about human Claudes, it's thoughtful. "You don't run into many Claudes under 70 in America," it replies, before offering a comparison: "I imagine it's a bit like being named Alexa after 2014 -- suddenly your name belongs to something else in people's minds too."