Artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced the launch of a new version of its Claude AI model alongside a developer’s beta for “computer use” on Oct. 22. 

The computer use beta will allow developers working with the API to enable Claude to take control of their mouse cursor, click on buttons and fields, and insert text in a user’s computer environment autonomously. 

A video demonstration of Claude’s computer use functionality showcases the machine’s ability to navigate multiple windows, open new tabs to search for information and transfer data from one window to another. 

Computer control

Under the current paradigm, popular AI-powered large language models such as Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT interact with users through a dedicated interface window. Some models can perform limited web searches within the framework of their interface, but external interactions are typically limited to allowing users to upload documents for parsing by the AI. 

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With Anthropic’s new computer use beta, the company hopes developers will eventually be able to automate any function a human sitting at a workstation would be able to perform. 

Per a company blog post:

“Developers can direct Claude to use computers the way people do—by looking at a screen, moving a cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the first frontier AI model to offer computer use in public beta. At this stage, it is still experimental—at times cumbersome and error-prone.”

Computer use beta is only available for developers through the Claude API; however, Anthropic says it’s releasing it early for feedback from developers. The company expects the feature “to improve rapidly over time.”

Privacy and security

Anthropic addresses some of the privacy and security concerns in the blog post stating that “because computer use may provide a new vector for more familiar threats such as spam, misinformation, or fraud,” the firm is taking a “proactive approach to promote its safe deployment” and can identify when computer use is being deployed improperly. 

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