What is Claude?
Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant, designed with a focus on being helpful, harmless, and honest. While it launched after ChatGPT, Claude has earned a strong reputation for thoughtful responses, excellent writing, and the ability to work with very long documents.
Current Models
Claude offers a family of models optimized for different needs:
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is Anthropic's flagship model for everyday use, offering an excellent balance of intelligence, speed, and cost.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Intelligence | Near-Opus level reasoning |
| Speed | Fast response times |
| Context | 200K tokens (~150,000 words) |
| Vision | Can analyze images and documents |
| Best for | Most tasks—writing, coding, analysis |
Claude 3 Opus
Opus is Anthropic's most powerful model, designed for the most complex tasks requiring deep reasoning.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Intelligence | Highest reasoning capability |
| Speed | Slower than Sonnet |
| Context | 200K tokens |
| Best for | Complex analysis, research, nuanced writing |
Claude 3.5 Haiku
The fastest and most affordable Claude model, ideal for quick tasks and high-volume applications.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Speed | Fastest in the Claude family |
| Cost | Most affordable |
| Best for | Quick questions, simple tasks, chatbots |
Key Features
Massive Context Window
Claude's standout feature is its 200K token context window—one of the largest available:
- Process entire books - Upload and analyze full novels or textbooks
- Review long codebases - Analyze thousands of lines of code at once
- Compare multiple documents - Upload several PDFs and compare them
- Maintain conversation context - Long conversations don't lose earlier information
For comparison, this context window can hold:
- ~150,000 words of text
- A 500-page book
- Hours of meeting transcripts
- Large codebases with multiple files
Projects
Claude's Projects feature lets you organize related conversations and documents:
- Upload knowledge files - PDFs, code, documents the project can reference
- Set project instructions - Define context and preferences that persist
- Organized workspace - Keep related work together
- Team collaboration - Share projects with team members (on Team plans)
Artifacts
When Claude creates code, documents, or other substantial content, it can display them as Artifacts:
- Interactive previews - See rendered HTML, React components, or visualizations
- Easy editing - Request changes and see updates in real-time
- Export options - Download or copy generated content
- Version history - Compare different iterations
Computer Use (Beta)
A unique feature allowing Claude to interact with computer interfaces:
- Navigate websites
- Fill out forms
- Click buttons and menus
- Take screenshots and analyze them
This enables automation of tasks that require visual computer interaction.
What Claude Does Well
Claude has distinct strengths:
Long Document Analysis
- Summarizing lengthy reports
- Extracting information from books
- Comparing multiple documents
- Finding specific details in large files
Nuanced Writing
- Matching specific tones and styles
- Thoughtful, well-structured prose
- Academic and professional writing
- Avoiding generic AI-sounding text
Careful Reasoning
- Breaking down complex problems
- Acknowledging uncertainty appropriately
- Considering multiple perspectives
- Avoiding overconfident conclusions
Code Quality
- Clean, well-documented code
- Thoughtful architecture decisions
- Good at explaining reasoning
- Strong at code review and refactoring
Ethical Considerations
- Handles sensitive topics thoughtfully
- Less likely to produce harmful content
- Transparent about limitations
- Balances helpfulness with safety
Limitations to Know
Claude has limitations too:
- No web browsing - Cannot search the internet for current information
- No native image generation - Cannot create images (unlike ChatGPT with DALL-E)
- Smaller ecosystem - Fewer plugins and integrations
- No voice mode - Text-only interaction (no voice conversations)
- Sometimes too cautious - May refuse requests that are actually harmless
Key Takeaways
- Claude offers three models: Sonnet for daily use, Opus for complex tasks, Haiku for speed
- Industry-leading 200K token context window handles entire books and large codebases
- Projects and Artifacts help organize work and visualize outputs
- Excels at long document analysis, nuanced writing, and careful reasoning
- More limited ecosystem than ChatGPT—no web browsing or image generation