Anthropic’s Claude AI has just taken a significant leap forward in its capabilities, with the company announcing on March 20, 2025, that Claude can now search the internet to provide more current and relevant responses.1 This long-awaited feature brings Claude to feature parity with competitors like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Mistral’s Le Chat, marking a major milestone in Anthropic’s evolution.
Claude Gets Connected: Web Search Finally Arrives
Until now, Claude’s knowledge has been limited to information available during its training cutoff. The introduction of web search capabilities fundamentally changes Claude’s utility, allowing it to tap into real-time information and provide responses based on the latest events and data.2
According to Anthropic, the new web search feature includes several key innovations:
- Cited sources that make fact-checking straightforward
- A conversational format that seamlessly integrates web information
- Real-time insights that dramatically expand Claude’s knowledge base
Scott White, Anthropic’s product lead for Claude, emphasized that implementing web search was no simple task. The team faced complex challenges integrating probabilistic language models with web search systems, maintaining accuracy across diverse queries, and ensuring proper citation of sources.3
Availability and Access
Currently, the web search feature is available in preview for paid Claude users in the United States. Anthropic has indicated that support for free plan users and expansion to more countries is coming soon. To access this feature, users need to toggle on web search in their profile settings.
At launch, web search works specifically with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, though we can likely expect compatibility with other Claude models in the future.4
For Developers: Web Search API
In addition to making web search available to end users, Anthropic has launched web search capabilities for their API, enabling developers to build Claude-powered applications that deliver up-to-date information.5 This opens up new possibilities for AI applications that require current data.
The API offering includes:
- Compatibility with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3.5 Haiku models
- Pricing starting at $10 per 1,000 searches plus standard token costs
- The same cited sources and verification capabilities available to end users
Why This Matters in the AI Landscape
The addition of web search brings Claude into direct competition with other leading AI assistants that have offered this functionality for some time. The move addresses one of the most common user complaints about AI assistants, they often provide outdated information or claim inability to answer questions about recent events.
What makes Claude’s implementation particularly interesting is Anthropic’s focus on accurately citing sources, a feature that aligns with their broader emphasis on building AI systems that are helpful, harmless, and honest. This approach could potentially set a new standard for transparency in AI-powered web search.
Technical Challenges of Web-Connected AI
Building an AI system that can effectively search the web isn’t just about connecting to a search engine. According to Anthropic, the team faced several complex challenges:
- Integrating probabilistic language models with deterministic web search systems
- Designing systems to maintain accuracy when processing web content
- Creating reliable citation mechanisms that help users verify information
These challenges highlight why web search, despite seeming straightforward to users, has been a complex feature for AI companies to implement effectively.
Looking Forward
With Claude now able to search the web, Anthropic has closed a significant feature gap with competitors. The next chapter will likely involve refinements to the web search capabilities and possibly expansion into multimodal web interactions, where AI systems can not only read text from the web but also interpret images, videos, and other media.
As AI assistants increasingly become connected to the real-time web, the distinctions between them will likely shift from basic capabilities to the quality of their reasoning, the reliability of their sourcing, and the effectiveness of their safety measures.
Have you tried Claude’s new web search feature? What differences have you noticed compared to other AI assistants with web access? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comments below.
Footnotes
1 Anthropic – Web Search
2 The Verge – Anthropic Claude Web Search
3 TechCrunch – Anthropic Adds Web Search to Claude
4 Anthropic – Web Search
5 Anthropic – Web Search API