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Correct answer: C. The connection between AI applications and external systems, as an open standard that any client or server may implement.
Explanation
The principle — A protocol standardises an exchange, not a product and not a way of thinking.
Why the key is correct — The documentation is direct about it: MCP is an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external systems. Both halves matter. It is open, so no single vendor gates it, and its subject is the connection rather than the intelligence at either end.
Why the others are wrong — How a model chooses a system is the application's business. A file format describes data at rest rather than a running exchange. And a licence is a commercial arrangement, not a specification.
Remember this — MCP standardises the wire between the application and the system, and nothing above it.
Sources — MCP first-party documentation.
Sources
“MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external systems.”
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