Anthropic is adding web search functionality to its Claude 3.7 Sonnet chatbot, bringing it in line with other popular AI-powered chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
When using information from the internet to respond, the chatbot will provide direct quotes and cite sources so that users can easily verify the information. This is necessary because the chatbot can still misinterpret data or provide inaccurate information.
Anthropic previously refused to implement this feature, claiming that Claude was “designed to be self-sufficient.” However, competition forced the company to change its position.
Search is currently available in beta for paid Claude users in the US, and will eventually be available to users in other countries, as well as non-subscription users.