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Claude has finally unlocked his superpower – web searching!
Anthropic announced today that its AI assistant, Claude, can now search and process information on the internet in real-time.
The new web search feature is immediately available to paying Claude subscribers in the United States.
The first echelon, but the latest to launch web search
01 The first echelon, but the latest to launch web search
Anthropic cares too much about safety!
Compared with other “popular fried chickens” in the current large model, Claude can be said to be a big step behind.
For comparison, Google Gemini announced the integration of Google Search at the end of 2024.
OpenAI quickly followed up with “Hard” and launched the ChatGPT web search function in November 2024.
At the same time, DeepSeek has already launched the web search function in the V2.5 stage, that is, on December 10, 2024.
And the other large models that you can think of as the first or second tier support web search.
The search function truly transforms the AI assistant from a tool limited by “training data deadlines” to an “agent” with real-time access to the latest information on the web.
Netizens cheered, Claude is finally “new”!
02 Netizens cheered, Claude is finally “new”!
It’s no wonder that after Claude posted the “Internet Search”, it caused netizens to cheer.
As a benchmark model in the field of programming, Claude-Sonnet-3.5 to 3.7 have gained a lot of attention.
For example, Claude 3.7 adopts Anthropic’s new hybrid inference architecture, which specifically optimizes code generation and logical reasoning capabilities.
But Claude’s delay in using the search function may have something to do with their philosophy.
Dario Amodei’s departure, the main reason why OpenAI founded Anthropic is that it has a big divergence from OpenAI’s next development path after receiving investment from Microsoft.
03 Claude already supports web search
Now, users can use Claude to search the web for more timely and useful answers.
With the web search function, Claude can stay on top of the latest events and information, and will be more accurate in tasks that require up-to-date data.
When Claude uses online information in his answers, he will directly cite the source for easy verification.
Common use cases for web search:
- Sales team: By analyzing industry trends, understanding key initiatives and customer pain points, it is more targeted when communicating with potential customers, optimizing customer planning, and improving the probability of closing deals.
- Financial Analyst: Evaluate current market data, earnings reports, and industry trends to make more sound investment decisions and provide a reliable basis for financial models.
- Researcher: Searching the Internet for first-hand information, discovering new trends, and identifying the shortcomings of the current literature can be more convincing when writing grant applications and literature reviews.
- Shoppers: Compare product features, prices, and user reviews across multiple channels to make more informed shopping decisions.
The web search feature is currently available for trial to all paying users in the United States. Free users and users from other countries will soon be able to use the feature.
04 Search≠Research, Claude is still worth looking forward to
Claude now has a good web search version that is really useful.
But Search has the same problems as all non-Deep Research Al uses web searches or RAGs.
Models can only get a small amount of context from searches and can sometimes be over-inferred.
This is not actually Claude’s “fault”, as in the following question.
When Ethan Mollick was asked about “the latest Substack articles”, Claude used “search” to give the right answer.
However, in reply, there is an additional mention of another previous article by Ethan Mollick (December 2024 article).
Compared with Search, the experience of using Research is closer to that of an “agent”.
Gemini Research, for example, is currently available to free users.
The results generated by Research are more like an agent accompanying you to “research” rather than simply searching for information.
As the “conservative” side of the AI evolution, Anthropic seems to be at the core of their philosophy of safety and “being with humans”.
This makes us even more excited about Claude’s Deep Research feature in the future!
Resources:
- https://www.anthropic.com/news/web-search
- https://venturebeat.com/ai/anthropic-just-gave-claude-a-superpower-real-time-web-search-heres-why-it-changes-everything/
