Anthropic Claude: What Is It and How Does It Compare to ChatGPT?

Anthropic Claude is an artificial intelligence (AI) program that can help individuals or teams perform various tasks. More specifically, Claude is a form of generative AI that can generate new content (e.g., text, code, visuals, etc.) instead of making a prediction about a certain data set. As a result, what once seemed the stuff of science fiction, has now become more realistic as programs like Claude AI emerge.

However, Claude is not the only generative AI that exists. It may be among the lesser-known options, with Gemini and Copilot often gaining more recognition since they're companions to Google and Microsoft, respectively. Yet arguably, the most well-known generative AI is OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

While all generative AI tools share some similarities, Anthropic Claude also has differences that distinguish it from ChatGPT. To determine the best choice for your needs, it's important to understand what Claude AI offers and how it compares to ChatGPT.

What is Anthropic Claude?

Claude is a generative AI tool created by Anthropic, a San Francisco company devoted to creating AI tools and researching AI’s effects on society. The primary focus of Anthropic’s research is ensuring that artificial intelligence is safe and positively impacts society. As such, Anthropic markets Claude as “helpful, honest, and harmless” [1]. Anthropic also promises that Claude is secure while delivering reliable, trustworthy results. It assures customers that Claude delivers more reliable and efficient results than competitors, with fewer data breaches and harmful outcomes. 

Like many newer AI tools, Claude uses natural language processing (NLP). In other words, Claude can both understand human language and produce natural-sounding human responses. As a result, some of Claude’s common uses include summarizing text, researching the answers to questions, and assisting with writing tasks. However, Claude can also help with coding, analyzing images, translating text, understanding data, and creating visuals. In short, Claude’s NLP can assist with almost anything and usually produces exactly what you need.

Since Anthropic is the name of the company that created Claude, some people call the tool “Anthropic Claude.” And, of course, given that it’s an AI tool, people also refer to it as “Claude AI.”

Different versions of Claude

If you choose to use Claude, you have various options to consider. You can use the free version if you simply want to test out the tool or have a straightforward task. Otherwise, upgrading to a Pro plan might be a better option if you plan to use Claude AI frequently and need the tool to store past tasks. This level is also a great choice if you are an individual who wants to give Claude more complex tasks. If you wish to use Claude across your department or company, consider the Team or the Enterprise plans, which offer more features.

Once you move past the free tier, you can access more powerful versions of the AI tool. Anthropic calls the version of Claude meant for the simplest tasks Haiku. While this tool is still very powerful, it’s meant for the least complex tasks and can quickly do them. Opus is the most high-powered of the available versions and can handle tasks with large data sets and many steps. Sonnet is in the middle tier and can handle moderately complex tasks while maintaining high efficiency.

Claude vs ChatGPT: A comparison

Claude AI and ChatGPT have many similarities. Their paid plans are similarly priced, and users are generally satisfied with both options for typical tasks. The option best suited to your needs depends on various factors, including what you plan to do with it.

Anthropic says that Claude is easier to converse with than ChatGPT and that getting to your desired result faster is easier. Anthropic results have also been published, showing that Claude performs better than ChatGPT (albeit slightly) on many cognitive tasks [2].

Objective expert reviews agree that the free version of Claude slightly outperforms ChatGPT on cognitive tasks. However, the paid tiers of ChatGPT perform slightly better than the paid versions of Claude on these tasks. Expert reviewers also slightly prefer Claude for creativity, more accurate summaries, and coding. ChatGPT, on the other hand, is slightly better for complex equations, while both perform equally well when summarizing longer pieces of text [3,4,5]. 

The paid tiers of ChatGPT also offer some features that Claude currently does not, such as voice chat, image creation, and web browsing. If you are working on these tasks, you might prefer using ChatGPT.

How to get started with Claude AI

If you want to try ClaudeAI, you’ll first need to create an account. The following steps can help simplify the process.

1. Visit claude.ai and create an account. You’ll need your email address and a password, or you can log in using your Google account if you have one.

2. You then need to enter your phone number and verify it by entering the code sent to you. This only prevents spam—Anthropic will not use your phone number otherwise.

3. Begin exploring the free version of Claude AI.

If you'd like to try one of the paid versions, find the area on the top of the page that says “Using limited free plan.” Then, click the word “Upgrade” and select a “Pro” or “Team” plan. If you select a Team plan, log in with your work email address. Additionally, you must contact the Anthropic sales department directly if you want an “Enterprise” plan.

Choose how you want to pay—monthly or yearly—and fill in the required information. Now, you should have access to the more powerful versions of Claude. Just be aware that the plan will auto-renew until you choose to cancel.

Learn more about Anthropic Claude and build AI skills on Coursera

Artificial intelligence is an exciting new field that is growing in popularity. If you want to learn more about AI in general, consider a course such as Generative AI for Everyone from DeepLearning.AI.

If you want to learn how AI can integrate within your current role or about new careers involving AI, consider professional certificates on Coursera. For example, the AI Developer Professional Certificate from IBM covers job-ready skills in AI. Alternatively, you can prepare for a career in the related field of Machine Learning with the Machine Learning Professional Certificate, also from IBM.