Anthropic has officially joined the competitive landscape of AI-powered web search, announcing its new feature on Thursday. This move positions them alongside other tech giants like OpenAI in the quest to redefine how users access and process information online.The new web search functionality is powered by Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet model and is seamlessly integrated directly into the Claude chatbot interface. Users can enable the feature within their profile settings. Instead of receiving a list of standard search result links, users will receive contextual results accompanied by citations from the search engine sources used to generate the response.Initially, the web search feature will be exclusively available to paid subscribers in the U.S., with plans to expand access to a broader user base in the future. This phased rollout mirrors the approach taken by OpenAI with its ChatGPT search tool, which also began as a premium feature before becoming widely accessible.Anthropic's entry into the AI search arena follows similar moves by competitors like OpenAI, which launched its ChatGPT search tool in the fall of 2024. While Anthropic counts Google as a venture partner, it has also recently previewed an “AI mode” for Google One Premium subscribers, indicating a multi-faceted approach to AI integration.Beyond general web browsing, Anthropic highlights several potential enterprise applications for its web search feature. These include analyzing industry trends, conducting research for grant proposals, and facilitating comparison shopping, as noted by Venture Beat. The integration of web search directly into the AI tool streamlines the research process, eliminating the need to switch between search engines and chatbots.However, Android Headlines points out a potential downside to the rapid development and competitive nature of AI technologies. The cycle of innovation – OpenAI developing ChatGPT search to compete with Google Search, Google responding with its own AI model, and now Anthropic launching web search – could lead to the cannibalization of traditional web results. As search engines increasingly prioritize AI-generated content from platforms like Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, and AI Overviews, traditional websites may see a decline in traffic. A recent study indicates that AI search engines send 96% less traffic to news sites compared to Google search. This is likely because AI tools often use links as annotations rather than primary sources, reducing the likelihood of users navigating away from the AI platform.
