Anthropics Claude 3.7 Sonnet Takes a Leap Forward with Web Search Capability

At the end of February, Anthropic unveiled Claude 3.7 Sonnet, marking a significant achievement as the first hybrid reasoning model in the industry. Instead of compelling users to choose between a version of Claude that can rapidly answer questions or methodically solve problems, the chatbot is capable of both, featuring a convenient toggle to switch between Claude’s various «thinking modes.» Now, Anthropic is upgrading 3.7 Sonnet by introducing a feature to search the web.

«With the web search capability, Claude can retrieve the most current events and information, enhancing its accuracy in tasks that require the latest data,» according to Anthropic. Prior to this update, Claude’s knowledge was limited to information available until October 2024, resulting in potentially outdated answers for recent inquiries. Now, when Claude utilizes the web for assistance, it will provide sources that users can click on or tap to verify its responses.

For users in the US who subscribe to Claude, web search can be activated via the profile settings menu. Anthropic has announced plans to extend this feature to free users and additional countries shortly. With this announcement, Anthropic is catching up; OpenAI initiated the deployment of ChatGPT Search to its paid subscribers last fall, and by early February, the feature became available for all users, including those without a ChatGPT account, at no cost.