Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP), described as "USB-C for AI," became the de facto standard for connecting AI agents to external tools and data systems in 2025. OpenAI adopted MCP in March 2025, and Google DeepMind confirmed support in April.
In December 2025, Anthropic donated MCP to the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation, co-founded with Block and OpenAI. This is a crucial milestone for AI tool integration and interoperability.