Written by Lidia Vijga
I was pretty thrilled when I first stumbled across Claude 2, the new AI chatbot from Anthropic. As someone who likes testing out new apps and tools, I decided to take it for a spin to see how it stacked up against some of the other conversational AI tools I’ve played around with.
After spending a couple of evenings chatting with Claude, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how natural the conversations felt compared to other AI chatbots like ChatGPT. Don’t get me wrong, Claude still has that hint of robotic stiffness here and there. But in general, Claude’s responses flowed smoothly and it seemed adept at following the twists and turns of organic dialogue.
Even more impressive was Claude’s ability to avoid the factual errors and problematic content that often crop up with large language models. In my experience, Claude didn’t try to “BS” answers it didn’t actually know – when unsure, it would defer to admitting uncertainty. And Claude steered clear of unethical suggestions when I proposed morally questionable hypothetical scenarios.
Although Claude is not flawless, as a tech enthusiast, I was impressed by the new model’s ability to hold a conversation and its commitment to ethical values.
Anthropic’s Founders
Anthropic was co-founded by Daniela Amodei and her brother Dario Amodei, who both previously worked at OpenAI. They departed over concerns that OpenAI increasingly prioritized anything but ethical AI development.
Dario Amodei led the creation of influential models like GPT-2 and GPT-3 at OpenAI. But OpenAI’s 2019 Microsoft partnership troubled him and colleagues who wished to exercise more caution with potentially dangerous AI applications.
Daniela Amodei managed key teams focused on AI safety and policy at OpenAI. She shared worries that OpenAI’s growing commercial motivations could undermine protections.
These founders sought a new path at Anthropic, aspiring to show AI can uplift humanity if developed responsibly. They formed a team with others sharing their safety-first vision for AI aimed at social benefit versus purely financial motivations.
The team managed to secure over $1.5 billion from investors to fund Anthropic’s goal. By upholding the values of its founders on a larger scale, Anthropic may successfully realize its vision of AI being a tool for empowerment rather than a threat to humanity.
Anthropic’s Measured Path to Launching Claude
Despite having ample funding and talent poached from AI leader OpenAI, Anthropic has taken a more subdued approach in unveiling its chatbot. This strategy may not show its impressive pedigree at first glance, but it has allowed the startup to stand out from its more vivid competitors.
This restraint reflects Anthropic’s safety-first mission. The company’s founders left OpenAI over concerns that commercial pressures would undermine ethics, and they have since made it their mission to put human interests at the center of Anthropic’s work.
The company enacted this philosophy while developing Claude. It spurned impulsive product launches, preferring prudence. Anthropic opted for soft testing with selected partners like DuckDuckGo and Quora.
This calculated approach minimized Claude’s risks before its public debut. It enabled continuous improvement based on real-world usage.
For instance, the constitutional AI technique emerged from observing early issues with bias. Careful iteration ensured each version maximized abilities within ethical guardrails.
This marathon mindset diverges from the sprint mentality of competitors chasing the buzz. But it aligns with Anthropic’s academy-like culture valuing scientific rigor over commercial speed.
Time will tell whether Anthropic’s pace will hinder them in comparison to their more agile competitors. But for now, its commitment to safety-first R&D offers reassurance.
Introducing Claude 2.0
With Claude 2 now available via free trials and enterprise API access, Anthropic faces critical questions about the product’s future trajectory. Early feedback indicates Claude’s judgment and transparency represent steps forward for AI. But immense challenges remain on the path to truly trustworthy generative models.
On capabilities, Claude will need continuous enhancement to its core skills to stay competitive. Anthropic must replicate the rapid iteration of rivals constantly upgrading abilities while avoiding detrimental shortcuts.
Customers see Claude as a ChatGPT alternative and expect it to keep up with the latest advancements, such as GPT-4 Model, in areas like reasoning and content generation
Even harder will be maintaining Claude’s safety edge. As capabilities grow, so do risks of harmful misuse or programming mistakes. Constitutional AI and human oversight may not suffice as Claude handles more complex real-world tasks. And commercial pressures could potentially erode Anthropic’s ethical approach.
Most uncertain is whether any company can deliver an AI that balances potent performance with rigorous safety protocols. Perfect solutions likely remain out of reach. But focusing first on risks gives Anthropic its best shot.
Claude’s Commercial Use Cases
While consumer buzz surrounds AI chatbots, Claude’s enterprise uptake may determine its long-term impact. Anthropic is marketing Claude’s API to companies for diverse business use cases. Early adopters highlight its versatility along with customizability.
Customer Service
Claude assists customers while optimizing costs. It resolves routine issues through free-flowing conversational guidance. For complex questions, Claude transfers users to human agents. This maximizes automation without losing the human touch.
Firms like Quora praise Claude’s detailed, easily-understood answers. Its friendly personality also suits customer support roles. Brands can even customize their tone to match their identity.
“Users describe Claude’s answers as detailed and easily understood, and they like that exchanges feel like natural conversation.”
Autumn Besselman, Chief People Officer at Quora
Legal
The law requires digesting dense documents. Claude excels at parsing long contracts or case files while answering questions about their contents. This saves lawyers’ time for higher-level work. For example, legal tech startup Robin AI uses Claude to analyze legal paperwork.
“Since deploying Claude in our product, we’re seeing higher user engagement, stronger user feedback and we’re closing more deals”
Richard Robinson, CEO at Robin AI
Coaching
Claude’s listening and speaking skills make it an engaging virtual coach. It assists with personal growth, career development, tutoring, and more. Education company Juni Learning credits Claude with providing thoughtful, high-quality conversational responses.
Vivian Shen (Founder and CEO at Juni Learning) says, “We evaluated Anthropic against competitors, and for our use case and implementation we chose to incorporate Claude based on its helpful, high-quality responses. It was important for us to deliver a conversational experience at the level of a true tutor or teacher, as opposed to the surface-level answers we saw from the current state of other models. Across subjects, incorporating Claude provided better, richer answers for our students.”
Search
Claude strengthens search tools using its information synthesis abilities. It digests results and distills them into natural language answers to user queries. DuckDuckGo leverages Claude to power contextual responses atop standard search. Early testing provided promising results.
Operations
For business operations, Claude handles rote information work at a superhuman scale. It processes mountains of documents, extracts data, categorizes content and summarizes surveys. This unlocks efficiency gains.
Dylan Fox from AssemblyAI says, “We’re thrilled to partner with a pioneering company like Anthropic whose commitment to AI integrity and research directly helps us ship more robust, LLM-backed Generative AI and Conversation Intelligence capabilities to our customers faster.”
Claude’s versatility across industries highlights its commercial potential. Companies are deploying it for workflows from sales to software development. Its scalability empowers real-world utility, not just novelty. And customization attracts brands by offering a bespoke AI assistant.
This enterprise angle may ultimately drive Anthropic’s success. Consumer buzz fades, but business value endures. If Claude delivers as promised, its low-code API could make AI assistants an essential workplace tool. That outcome would validate Anthropic’s understated but results-driven approach.
How Anthropic is teaching Claude Right from Wrong
Chatbots like Claude learn from massive datasets, not morality. The training focuses on predicting words, not pondering ethics. So how can Anthropic ensure its brainy bot promotes good, not harm?
The company’s solution is an ingenious regimen blending feedback and self-reflection. First, human trainers guide Claude’s development through traditional reinforcement. They score the responses for helpfulness and safety. Useful answers earn rewards.
This process imparts values but requires constant oversight. So Anthropic gives Claude a supple sense of right and wrong. Its “AI constitution” outlines principles like “do no harm” in human terms.
Claude critiques its own suggestions. When prompted improperly, it may initially respond poorly. But its constitution helps Claude recognize its missteps. It then revises its answer to avoid condoning unwise or illegal acts.
These self-critiques foster improvement without constant human judgment. This combination of human reinforcement and autonomous constitution lets Anthropic instill morality in a wayward bot.
But will it work? Critics contend no rules can capture ethics’ complexity. And Claude’s principles clearly have gaps – it still makes mistakes. Yet Anthropic’s approach marks immense progress. Claude does not blindly follow orders – it can weigh right and wrong while advising users.
Teaching ethics to a bot is hard, but at the least, Constitutional AI moves AI safety forward.
Claude 2’s launch represents a milestone for the emerging field of responsible AI development. Its reception in the coming years will signal whether ethical imperatives can coexist with market demands. Anthropic’s long-term vision is ambitious. But for now, Claude 2 stands as a promising step in steering generative AI towards empowering, not endangering, humanity.
