Anthropic boss: ‘AI agents make programmers more lonely’

Theo Business Insiderengineers are spending more time directing AI agents, checking outputs, and coordinating multiple parallel tasks. The trend of vibe coding – using natural language to create commands and build software with AI support – allows non-technical founders to create tools themselves without outsourcing, promoting “one-person businesses”. However, this can lead to feelings of loneliness due to lack of interaction.

That situation is also happening at AI startup Anthropic. “What’s noticeable in the Claude Code team is that after a while, the work starts to feel lonely because everyone interacts so much with agents,” Fiona Fung, who runs the AI ​​tool development team Claude Code and Claude Cowork, said on the show Lenny’s Podcast this week.

As a solution, Fung’s team tries to restore some of what is lost due to programming habits with AI agents. They organize programming lunches, hackathons and “shared creations” for engineers to sit close together and learn the workflow, increasing communication within the team.

“Everyone uses Claude Cowork, but each person has their own process. When programming in pairs, we learn a lot from each other,” Fung explains.

Released by Anthropic last year, Claude Code quickly became one of the most widely used products in software development. Claude Cowork, an application for managing files and performing basic computer tasks, was also built using Claude Code in a week and a half.

In the survey conducted by Business Insider Launched in March with more than 20 founders and venture capitalists, Claude Code is the most popular AI programming tool among startups. Some founders say this is their default choice for complex technical work.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a group of leaders and researchers who worked at OpenAI. This startup’s annual revenue is estimated to exceed $30 billion. On June 1, the company said it had submitted documents for an initial public offering (IPO) to US regulatory agencies.