Claude AI's latest update introduces advanced research and app connectivity
What's the story
Anthropic has added new capabilities to its AI chatbot, Claude.
The company has launched a beta version of the app connection feature called Integrations, and a more powerful deep research tool called Advanced Research.
These tools are available for subscribers to Anthropic's Claude Max, Team, and Enterprise plans.
With these developments, the company hopes to remain competitive with chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT.
New features
New features to enhance user experience
The Integrations feature is based on Anthropic's MCP protocol, allowing AI models to use data from different sources, including business tools and content repositories.
This lets developers build app servers to augment Claude's capabilities.
The Advanced Research tool enables Claude to crawl hundreds of internal and external sources for more detailed reports on a topic in five to 45 minutes.
It can also use newly expanded connectors for searches across Integrations and MCP-connected local drives.
Partnerships
Partner integrations improve Claude's capabilities
To expand Claude's capabilities through Integrations, Anthropic has partnered with a number of companies. These include Atlassian, Zapier, Cloudflare, Intercom, Square, and PayPal.
For example, the Atlassian Integration lets Claude summarize and create pages in Atlassian's Confluence workplace software.
Meanwhile, the Zapier Integration allows Claude to connect with Zapier's app automation workflows.
In-depth analysis
Advanced Research offers comprehensive reports
The Advanced Research tool in Claude breaks down requests into smaller parts for a more in-depth investigation and compiles a comprehensive report.
When incorporating information from sources, it provides clear citations linking directly to the original material.
This feature is part of a trend among chatbots like Gemini, Copilot, and Grok that are using reasoning AI models for conducting thorough research on subjects.