Anthropic has recently announced a significant upgrade to its AI-powered chatbot, Claude. The new feature enables Claude to conduct web searches, a capability that had been highly anticipated by users. This functionality is now available in preview for paid users in the U.S., with plans to extend support to free users and additional countries in the near future, as stated in Anthropic's official blog.
To take advantage of the new web search feature, users can easily toggle it on in their profile settings through the Claude web app. Once activated, Claude will automatically search various websites to inform its responses. At this time, web search functionality is exclusive to the latest model, known as Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
One of the standout features of this new capability is that when Claude utilizes information from the web in its responses, it provides direct citations. This allows users to fact-check sources effortlessly. As mentioned in Anthropic's blog post, "Instead of finding search results yourself, Claude processes and delivers relevant sources in a conversational format." This enhancement significantly expands Claude's extensive knowledge base, allowing the chatbot to provide answers based on more current information.
In preliminary testing of the web search feature, it was observed that Claude did not consistently trigger web searches for questions related to current events. However, when it did, the chatbot successfully delivered answers complete with inline citations, sourcing information from platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and reputable news outlets such as NPR and Reuters. This ability to pull in real-time data brings Claude on par with other leading AI chatbots, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Mistral’s Le Chat.
Previously, Anthropic maintained that Claude was "designed to be self-contained," which explains the initial hesitance to incorporate web search capabilities. However, competitive pressure in the AI landscape likely influenced this strategic shift. By enabling web search, Claude not only enhances its functionality but also meets the growing expectations of users who seek more dynamic and informed interactions with AI.
