Claude can now do the tedious grunt work of creating files for you.
On Tuesday, Anthropic shared a new feature for Claude where users can ask it to create Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoints, Word documents, and PDFs directly within the chat. The new capability is available as a preview for Claude Max, Team, and Enterprise subscribers, and Anthropic said it would be rolling out to Claude Pro users in the coming weeks.
Claude’s ability to create and edit files on the user’s behalf is an example of agentic AI, a term that the industry is buzzing about. AI models with so-called reasoning skills are able to break down multi-step tasks, and when connected to other apps and software, they can accomplish tasks outside of their app restraints. Anthropic’s new feature works by giving Claude “access to a private computer environment where it can write code and run programs to produce the files and analyses you need.”
Competitors have introduced similar agentic features. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has an agent that can browse the web and similarly compile reports through accessing your calendar and files. Google’s Project Mariner is a prototype exploring agentic web browsing, and then there are web browsers like Arc Dia and Perplexity Comet that can shop and add items to your cart.
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But Anthropic’s new feature is a little more straightforward in that you feed it data or instructions and it puts it all together in the desired format. In that sense, the closest comparison is a tool called Shortcut AI, which replicates an Excel spreadsheet page and automates all of the data input from a sidebar chatbot. Anthropic says users can ask Claude to perform tasks like creating a financial model in a spreadsheet from their raw data, turning a PDF into a PowerPoint, or generating reports with visual charts and written analysis.
To get started with the feature, go to Settings > Features > Experimental and enable the toggle that says “Upgraded file creation and analysis.” From there can start asking Claude to make files using uploaded files or written prompts.
A note of caution to keep in mind with any chatbot: Be wary about sensitive information you’re sharing. That’s particularly important with Claude because Anthropic just updated its terms of use, saying it will use conversations for model training unless the user opts out. Users have until Sept. 28 to opt out, which they can do in their privacy settings by toggling off “Help improve Claude.”
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
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Artificial Intelligence
