May 08, 2025 13:45:00

Anthropic releases new API that lets chat AI 'Claude' search the web in real time to find the latest news

Anthropic, the developer of chat AI 'Claude,' announced a new API on May 8, 2025 that will enable Claude to search the web and find the latest information. By introducing the new API, developers and companies will be able to build Claude-powered products and apps that provide the latest information on the web.

Introducing web search on the Anthropic API ｜ Anthropic

https://www.anthropic.com/news/web-search-api

Anthropic rolls out an API for AI-powered web search | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/07/anthropic-rolls-out-an-api-for-ai-powered-web-search/

Anthropic launches Claude web search API, betting on the future of post-Google information access | VentureBeat
https://venturebeat.com/ai/anthropic-launches-claude-web-search-api-betting-on-the-future-of-post-google-information-access/

The new API, which is available to apps and agents running the latest version of Claude 3.7 Sonnet, the upgraded version of Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and the lightweight version of Claude 3.5 Haiku, will use its inference capabilities to determine whether a web search tool would be useful when a user requests something, and if so, will execute the web search.

Claude generates targeted search queries, analyzes relevant data to retrieve key information, and provides comprehensive answers with citations to source materials. This allows users to go directly to the source, which is useful for sensitive use cases where accuracy and accountability are important. Claude can also use previous results to refine future queries. Developers can adjust the 'max_uses' parameter to control the behavior of the API.

Below are some examples of use cases for Anthropic's web search API.

- Financial Services: It is possible to build AI agents that analyze real-time stock prices, market trends, and regulatory updates.
Legal Research: Create tools to access the latest court decisions, regulatory changes and legal news.
- Developer tools: It is possible to build tools that can reference the latest API documentation, GitHub releases, and technology updates.
Productivity tools: Create agents that incorporate the latest company reports, competitor information, and industry research.

Administrators can limit the sources from which Claude retrieves information by configuring a 'domain allow list,' or can block access to certain sources by specifying a 'domain block list.' Administrators can also allow or block the use of web search across the entire organization.

Claude's new API has already been introduced to

Poe , Quora's AI chat service. Spencer Chan, head of product at Poe, said, 'We welcome the addition of Anthropic's web search tool to the Poe platform. It's cost-effective and provides search results at incredible speed, which will be beneficial for anyone who needs access to real-time information when using the Claude model in Poe.'

Claude's web search API is available in Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3.5 Haiku for $10 per 1,000 searches plus the standard token cost. To get started, you'll need to enable the web search tool in your API request .

Technology media VentureBeat points out that Anthropic's web search API is intended to compete in the rapidly evolving AI search market. On May 7, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, testified in a trial between Google's parent company Alphabet and the Department of Justice that Safari searches had declined for the first time in history in April, and that this was due to an increase in people using AI for web searches.

For a long time, Google has had an overwhelming dominance in the web search market, but in recent years, more and more users are asking AI questions and having it gather information through web searches. In traditional searches, users had to check the many sources displayed in the search results, but if you leave it to AI, it will automatically provide you with a summary of information, so the cognitive load on the user is reduced, VentureBeat points out.

The fact that Safari searches have decreased could be a sign of a larger shift in consumer behavior, making Anthropic's announcement of the web search API significant at this time. Traditional web content has been supported by advertising-based business models, but as users move from browser search to AI search, the advertising revenue that websites can earn will plummet. Of course, there are cases where the answers generated by AI include links to the source, but many users do not bother to click the link and check the source, so the revenue alone is not enough to support content creation.

In other words, AI relies on high-quality web content to generate answers, but this can create a vicious cycle in which users stop visiting websites and undermine the business models that support content production. 'Without new compensation mechanisms for content creators, the long-term health of the information ecosystem could be undermined,' VentureBeat said.