SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Technology startup Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) launched a so-called improved artificial intelligence model on Thursday, days after its product developments sparked a sell-off in traditional software stocks.
The San Francisco-based lab, which is backed by Amazon.com and Alphabet’s Google, said the Claude Opus 4.6 model is an upgrade from the Opus 4.5 model released in November. The new AI can work on tasks longer and more reliably, while making gains in coding and finance, Anthropic said.
Anthropic also teased how this technology could process 1 million pieces of data known as “tokens” in a single prompt, matching a capability previously claimed by Google and a less powerful Claude model. And it gave a taste of how this AI, in the computer programming tool Claude Code, could divide tasks among multiple autonomous agents and get the job done faster.
Anthropic is seen as a disruptor in the software industry and aims to stay at the forefront of technology ahead of its highly anticipated IPO, in an era of competition from Google and OpenAI.
Software developers have embraced AI for coding. Anthropic, meanwhile, is trying to make business deals with products like Claude Cowork, which performs computer tasks for white-collar workers.
The AI companies’ rapid adoption has fueled market movements predicting that legacy software companies will lose relevance as AI beats them at their own game. Shares of Salesforce, Workday and Thomson Reuters each traded about 3% lower on Thursday, extending declines from the past week.
Yet tech industry figures including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have dismissed such concerns about disruption, arguing that legacy software companies’ specialized products, massive data and AI adoption will provide a solution.
Scott White, Anthropic’s head of Product for Enterprise, also said the goal was to connect AI with legacy software tools to make them more usable.
“We’re excited to work together and really lower the floor to get more value from these tools,” White told Reuters.
Claude Cowork, he said, is more ‘the front door to getting hard work done.’
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
