Claude AI, Anthropic’s AI-powered chatbot, just took a major step forward — it can now search the web in real time. This long-awaited feature is rolling out as a preview for paid Claude users in the U.S., with plans to expand access to free users and other countries soon.
Once enabled in the profile settings of the Claude web app, the chatbot automatically scours the internet to strengthen its responses with fresh, up-to-date information. However, for now, this new capability is exclusive to Anthropic’s latest model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
According to Anthropic, when Claude pulls information from the web, it clearly cites its sources so users can easily verify the facts. “Instead of manually searching, Claude delivers relevant sources in a natural, conversational way,” the company shared in its blog post. The goal is to expand Claude’s knowledge base by offering real-time insights alongside its existing training data.
In testing, web search didn’t always activate for current events queries — but when it did, Claude produced detailed answers with inline citations. Sources ranged from major news outlets like NPR and Reuters to social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter).
This update finally brings Claude in line with competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Mistral’s Le Chat, all of which have long provided web search capabilities. Anthropic had previously resisted adding this feature, arguing that Claude was intentionally designed as a “self-contained” model. But with growing competitive pressure, that stance seems to have shifted.
Of course, giving AI access to the web isn’t without risks. AI chatbots are known to hallucinate or misinterpret sources, leading to inaccurate responses. A recent study from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism found that chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini provided incorrect answers in over 60% of cases. Another report by The Guardian showed that even ChatGPT’s dedicated search tool could be tricked into producing misleading summaries.
Still, for Anthropic, adding web search could significantly enhance Claude’s usefulness — especially when it comes to providing users with timely and verifiable information.
