Claude

What it does

Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant. It writes, edits, summarises and reasons through problems, and it is especially good with long documents and careful, natural writing.

You can give it a long report, contract or set of notes and ask questions about it, or have it draft something in your own style.

Why use it

• It handles long documents well: whole reports, transcripts and contracts.
• Its writing sounds natural, and it follows tone and style instructions closely.
• Projects keep your files and instructions together for work you come back to.
• It is good at explaining its reasoning, which helps you check it.

How it works

1. Create a free Claude account on the website or the app.
2. Type what you need in plain English, as you would to a colleague: the task, who it is for and the tone.
3. Add anything it should work from: paste text, or attach a document, spreadsheet or photo.
4. Read the answer, then ask for changes (“shorter”, “warmer”, “as a table”) until it is right.
5. Check facts, names and figures before you use the result anywhere that matters.

How hard is it to use?

Beginner Easy to start. You need an account, not any technical know-how.

As easy to start as any chat tool. Its strength with long documents shows once you start attaching files and giving it detailed instructions.

What it costs

Free plan; paid plans. The free plan covers everyday use with limits. Paid personal plans raise the limits and add more features, and there are team and enterprise plans for organisations.

Prices change often, so check Claude’s own site before you pay.

Watch out for

• Like every assistant, it can be wrong. Check facts and figures.
• Heavy use of the free plan hits its limits quickly.
• Don’t paste in confidential work unless your employer allows it.

Your data

On personal plans, you choose in the privacy settings whether your chats can help train Anthropic’s models. Business and API use isn’t used for training.

Claude doesn’t offer UK data storage, so check where it keeps your data before you share anything private or about other people.