Recently, OpenAI launched its latest flagship model GPT-4o for the AI chatbot ChatGPT, introducing new features and expanding its capabilities. Now, one of its main competitors, Anthropic, has announced updates to its AI model, Claude. Similar to ChatGPT, Claude can assist with various tasks such as generating text content, writing code, summarizing documents, and more.
The latest update adds tool usage capabilities to Claude, enabling it to interact with various external APIs and tools. Users can now specify a set of tools for the AI to perform different operations. This feature will be available on Claude-3, allowing users to create specialized chatbots similar to the AI agents showcased by Google at their recent developer I/O event.
What is Anthropic's Tool Use Feature?
Anthropic's tool use feature, also known as function calls, enables the Claude-3 AI model to interact with various data sources and APIs, enhancing its functionality. Users can define a set of tools for Claude to execute specific tasks. When users ask questions, the AI model will check which available tools can help provide answers.
If external tools are needed, you need to extract the tool name and input from Claude, run them, and then return the results to the AI model. For example, this process can be used to help Claude answer queries about weather conditions in a region or provide a recipe for a dish.
However, unlike OpenAI and Google's AI agents, you cannot directly use Anthropic's AI agent without writing custom functions for the tasks they need to perform. This means that individuals without programming skills may find it challenging to access Anthropic's AI agents. Nevertheless, the new tool use feature in Claude-3 offers a wide range of functionalities.
Availability and Pricing of Anthropic's Tool Use Feature
The tool use feature for Claude-3 is accessible through Google Vertex AI, Amazon Bedrock, and Anthropic's Messages API. Pricing is based on the amount of text processed by the AI model and is measured in tokens. Seven hundred and fifty words equate to 1000 tokens, and users can choose from different options.
The most affordable option, Haiku, costs 25 cents per million input tokens and 1.25 cents per million output tokens.
What Can You Do with Anthropic's Tool Use Feature?
Like other AI agents, those created using Anthropic's tool use feature can perform a variety of functions. They can answer questions on various topics, offer personalized product recommendations, and even provide real-time technical support based on their intended purpose.
You can create chatbots focused on specific functions by providing them with dedicated external databases, ensuring maximum efficiency. This makes Anthropic's AI agents distinct from most other companies' chatbots, which often perform multiple tasks but excel in none.
In contrast, AI agents based on Claude-3 can be designed to specialize in particular tasks, allowing them to perform these tasks exceptionally well. This makes them highly useful in various scenarios. For instance, you can create an AI agent to search for specific information within large databases or quickly retrieve data to respond to customer inquiries. Similarly, users can provide images of clothing items to the chatbot and ask which one suits them best.
Claude-3 can handle several simple and complex tools, enabling you to create agents for different purposes, such as:
- Create an AI agent using the tool use feature to quickly gather information like dates, names, and amounts from documents like invoices.
- Design Anthropic's AI agents to convert natural language prompts into API calls, speeding up processes like unsubscribing.
- Users can receive quick and accurate answers through these agents, making them ideal for support purposes.
- AI agents can automate routine tasks, such as entering data by retrieving information from documents like invoices.
- Refined tasks, such as scheduling meetings, can be completed more efficiently by AI chatbots, which can utilize information like attendees' availability.
Anthropic is one of the latest companies to offer AI agents that users can create for specific tasks. Almost all major tech companies are following this trend, indicating the direction in which AI models are evolving.
