...just days after MPs heard how the tech was a threat to comedy

The Edinburgh Fringe has signed a sponsorship deal with an AI company – just days after MPs heard how the technology was an existential threat to the comedy industry.

Research company Anthropic have today been named as the ‘official education partner’ of this year’s festival, following a similar agreement last year.

Anthropic is the team behind the AI software called Claude which, like all large-language models, is trained by analysing large amounts of data created by humans. 

Just this week comedian Matt Forde told MPs artificial intelligence was an ‘industry that is specifically designed to harvest your creative output’ and treat it as freely available to all.

'It threatens us as an industry,’ he told the culture, media and sport Commons committee. ‘ It is a major threat to the UK economy if there are no guardrails to stop the wholesale theft of intellectual property.’

However the Fringe say the sponsorship deal will open an ‘honest conversation about the opportunities and challenges of technological transformation for creatives’.

Tony Lankester, chief executive of the society that co-ordinates the festival, said: ‘AI is a highly debated topic in society, particularly in the creative sector – and rightly so. Thankfully, highly debated topics are the bread and butter of the Fringe, and I can’t think of a better place for this debate to continue and develop.

‘We’ve been in ongoing discussions with the Anthropic team over the past year, and we’ve been really impressed with their commitment to collaboratively engage with the creative community, and explore how AI can help and not detract from the creative process.’

Everett Katigbak, brand creative director at Anthropic added: ‘As a musician and documentary filmmaker, I loved meeting like-minded creatives with a curiosity about technology during our Fringe workshops last year. 

‘At Anthropic, we believe AI should amplify creative vision, and support the irreplaceable human spark that drives artistic expression. That’s why we're approaching things differently – with a commitment to data privacy for our users, and a focus on listening and learning.

‘Claude is designed to remove technical barriers and expand possibilities, while keeping artists firmly at the centre of the creative process. We're honoured to support the Fringe again in 2025, and to convene workshops and conversations that help artists discover new tools as they bring their shows to Edinburgh.’

Claude has already been used to create virtual comedians. Here’s an example of its output: 

Last month, Anthropic  announced annual revenues of more than £1billion – about the same size as the entire UK comedy industry according to a recent report from the Live Comedy Association.

Anthropic is running two online sessions for registered Fringe artists, one  entitled Freeing Up Time With Claude at 4pm on May 12, and another entitled Marketing Your Show With Claude at 4pm on June 9. Both will be available via Fringe Connect.

Published: 1 May 2025