Anthropic is Paying Students $3,600 to run AI clubs, Apply Now!

Anthropic has opened applications for its 2026 Claude Campus Ambassador programme. Kenyan students at local universities are eligible to apply.

Selected ambassadors receive a USD 3,600 cash stipend. This converts to roughly KES 466,000. The role requires students to run artificial intelligence events on their own campus for the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

Applications opened on 1 September. They close at 11:59 pm Pacific time on 12 September, which translates to 9:59 am on 13 September in Nairobi. Anthropic reviews applications as they arrive. Students who apply on the last day compete for whatever places are left.

Anthropic is the American artificial intelligence company behind the Claude assistant. The company was founded by former OpenAI researchers and competes directly with ChatGPT.

Three distinct tracks this year

Anthropic ran this programme last year with two tracks. This year there are three. They are split by academic level, and all three pay the same USD 3,600 stipend.

1. Undergraduates apply to lead a Claude Builder Club. This involves setting up a campus group for students who build software with Claude. The ambassador organises technical and non-technical workshops, brings in Anthropic guest speakers, and sets up hackathons and demo nights.
2. Master’s students in STEM or the humanities apply to lead Claude Campus Conversations. These are discussion groups focused on AI and society. This specific track includes a visit to an Anthropic office.
3. PhD students and postdoctoral researchers apply to lead Claude Science workshops. They run these for other researchers on their campus alongside Anthropic’s mathematics and science teams. Anthropic wants PhD applicants who already use Claude in their daily research.

Applying and taking part is free.

Kenyan students are eligible

The programme FAQ states that students anywhere in the world can apply to any of the programmes. However, the graduate and PhD tracks may select from a smaller pool of schools during the initial pilot period.

Applicants must be 18 or older. They also need work authorisation in the country where they study. The application form asks about the country of the university they study at.

The form’s school list carries 12 African institutions. Two are Kenyan: the University of Nairobi and United States International University-Africa. The others are Ashesi University, the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the University of Lagos, Makerere University, the University of Rwanda, African Leadership University Rwanda, the University of Cape Town, Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, and African Leadership College in Mauritius.

The list also has an “Other” option. A student whose university is missing can type it in directly. The programme page does not say how many ambassadors Anthropic will take, nor does it explain how the places are split by country.

What Anthropic already does in the region

Kenya is on Anthropic’s supported countries list for both the Claude web interface and the API. This means Kenyan software engineering students can build local products using the tool the job is built around.

In November 2025, Anthropic announced a partnership with Rwanda’s ICT and education ministries and the training provider ALX. That deal put Chidi, a learning companion built on Claude, in front of Rwandan classrooms and more than 200,000 ALX students across the continent. Anthropic has not run anything on that scale in Kenya yet.

Cost is the other reason this stipend matters locally. Kenyans pay for Claude Pro in dollars, and the government applies a 16% VAT on top of digital services. We previously explained how this tax affects digital subscriptions. This puts a Claude Pro subscription at roughly KES 3,000 a month. The ambassador stipend covers that cost many times over. The selected students also receive API credits to fund their software development.

Applications close on the morning of 13 September in Kenya. Because the review process is rolling, students should apply immediately rather than waiting for the deadline.