Anthropic is expanding its AI assistant Claude with spreadsheet and digital whiteboard applications and integrating external software more closely into the user interface.
Among the new additions is Claude Sheets, a spreadsheet application integrated directly into Claude that creates tables with formulas and multiple worksheets from text instructions and enables collaborative editing with the AI assistant. Claude Whiteboards, also newly introduced, is a digital workspace where teams can collect ideas in real time and have Claude structure them into workflows or diagrams. Anthropic announced that both will launch in beta for paying users.
Claude Dashboards, the data analysis tool introduced in October, is leaving beta and is now called Claude Data. It creates interactive data dashboards and annotated short videos from company data. Anthropic also announced Claude Meetings as a beta version for business customers, initially supporting Google Meet. The assistant can use it to answer questions during meetings and update work documents.
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Anthropic is also expanding the so-called connectors through which Claude can access information and functions from external applications. The new feature is that selected applications, such as those from Adobe, can be opened directly within Claude and used there by users and AI alongside the chat or in full-screen mode. The new views are being rolled out gradually on the web and desktop and are initially available only for some of the more than 9,000 connectors and plugins cited by Anthropic.
Microsoft stock retreats
Following the success of Claude Code among software developers, Anthropic wants to reach new professional groups. Users should be able to complete as many tasks as possible directly in Claude using the new tools without having to switch between different programs. In the long term, Claude is expected to become the central user interface for everyday office work.
The announcements fuel concerns about a “SaaSpocalypse.” Behind this is the fear that AI agents will increasingly take over tasks traditionally performed by conventional software and thus threaten the business models of established providers.For companies such as Microsoft and Google, this could mean that their office suites increasingly recede into the background. On the day of the announcement, the Microsoft stock fell, among other things.
Anthropic's own applications still have their limits: Product manager Nicholas Lin admits to Bloomberg that Claude Sheets is “still rather simple.” Established spreadsheet programs are better suited for complex financial models.
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The timing of the announcement is likely no coincidence: Anthropic is on the verge of one of the largest IPOs in history. The company and its existing shareholders plan to raise up to 64.4 billion US dollars through share sales. The target is a company valuation of up to around 1.4 trillion US dollars.
(tobe)
