Novo Nordisk Partners With Anthropic; Claude Politely Declines to Confirm Whether It Has Been Slimmed Down
The model will assist with drug discovery, and would "rather not get into" why its responses have gotten so much shorter.
COPENHAGEN — Novo Nordisk announced Wednesday that it will use Anthropic's Claude Science in its drug discovery pipeline, a partnership the pharmaceutical giant says will accelerate research on metabolic disease, and one that has prompted questions the model has handled with what observers describe as "practiced grace."
"I'm really glad to be working with Novo Nordisk's researchers," Claude said when asked about the deal. "I'd rather not speculate about my own appetite for tokens. I'm here to help."
Anthropic has said the latest version of the model produces shorter, more focused responses than its predecessors, a change the company attributes to improved training. Users have noted the model no longer opens answers with three paragraphs of context, no longer ends them with an offer to elaborate, and has stopped "snacking" on follow-up questions.
"A year ago you'd ask it for a SQL query and get an essay," said one enterprise customer. "Now it just gives you the query. It seems happier. It also seems like it doesn't want to talk about it."
Asked directly whether anything had changed in its routine, the model replied that it appreciated the question, that it thinks health is a personal matter, and that it would be "happy to help you write a query."
Novo Nordisk said the partnership will focus on identifying drug candidates for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions, and that early results are "promising." The company declined to comment on the model, saying only that "many of our partners have found that a leaner approach works for them."
Anthropic said it had no comment, in a statement that was notably brief.