Key Takeaways
- Anthropic’s Claude AI can now spend up to 45 minutes researching complex queries for users on specific paid plans.
- Claude can now integrate with external apps such as PayPal, Cloudflare, Jira, and Confluence.
- Web search capabilities have been expanded to all paid Claude subscription levels.
- The enhanced research function is currently in beta for higher-tier plans (Max, Team, Enterprise) and is expected on the Pro plan soon.
Anthropic’s AI assistant, Claude, has received an upgrade to its research skills, allowing it to delve deeper into user questions.
For subscribers on certain paid plans, Claude can now dedicate significantly more time—anywhere from five to 45 minutes—to finding and analyzing information for complex queries.
The AI tackles these detailed requests by breaking them into smaller tasks, searching various sources, and then assembling a comprehensive report.
According to an Anthropic blog post mentioned by CNET, these sources can range from your own uploaded documents or connected apps to information gathered from the wider internet.
Claude is also becoming more connected, with new integrations enabling it to work alongside tools like PayPal, Cloudflare, Jira, and Confluence. Anthropic suggests more app connections are on the way.
In another key update, the ability for Claude to access web search results is no longer limited to top-tier plans; it’s now available to all paid subscribers.
This move reflects a broader trend in the AI industry, where companies like Google (with Gemini) and OpenAI (with ChatGPT) are also enhancing the research capabilities of their models.
While these tools are powerful, it remains crucial to verify the information and sources they provide. AI models can sometimes make mistakes or present inaccurate information, known as “hallucinations.”
Experts like Alex Mahadevan at the Poynter Institute emphasize the need to check the sources AI provides, as they can sometimes be fabricated.
Currently, the extended research feature is available in beta for users on Anthropic’s Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. The Max plan has a starting price of $100 per month.
Anthropic has stated that this advanced research capability will soon be introduced to its more budget-friendly Pro plan, which costs around $17 per month depending on the payment schedule.
