Anthropic’s AI Allows Users to Create Personal Assistants

Anthropic announced last week that it is releasing a new feature for its AI chatbot Claude that allows users to create customized AI assistants. This feature called “tool use,” also known as “function calling,” allows Claude to connect with any external tool and API, creating a variety of personalized solutions.

According to Anthropic, the tool use feature allows Claude to automate tasks, analyze data, and create highly customized customer engagement tools. For example, Claude can be configured to create an email assistant or a bot that instantly responds to customer inquiries. It can also automate tedious tasks like data entry or file management and offer real-time technical support. However, setting up these personalized bots requires API access and coding knowledge.

Additionally, the tool’s functionality includes working with images, allowing users to incorporate image inputs in applications that analyze visual data.

The AI assistant is available across the Claude 3 model family on the Anthropic Messages API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Cloud’s Vertex AI. According to The Verge, pricing is determined by the volume of text Claude processes, which is measured in tokens. Generally, 1,000 tokens equal to around 750 words.

The New Claude 3 Family & Notable Use Cases

The Claude 3 family includes different models, namely Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus. The Claude tool, which has been in beta phase since April, saw most of the customers opt for Anthropic’s fastest and most affordable Claude 3 Haiku model.

Furthermore, one of Anthropic’s project lead, Dianne Penn, shared with The Verge that the beta testing results suggest promising startup solutions. One of the several clients using the Claude tool during the beta was StudyFetch, which used the tool to create a personalized AI tutor called Spark.E. Some other notable mentions were Intuned, the browser automation platform and Hebbia, a startup that develops AI-infused search tools.