Claude unveils AI work tools, taking on Microsoft

Agencies Anthropic has expanded the capabilities of its AI assistant Claude with the launch of Claude Whiteboards and Claude Sheets in beta, while making its data analytics product, formerly known as Claude Dashboards, generally available as Claude Data . The new suite of tools are designed to help teams brainstorm ideas weave the company's AI products into everyday office work, a move that puts it in sharper contest with Microsoft and Google. The features, unveiled at a company event, include a video call assistant, a data dashboard tool and a spreadsheet service called Claude Sheets that closely resembles Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, but with Anthropic’s AI built into it. Also read: Anthropic targets $90 billion IPO at $1.4 trillion valuation — claudeai (@claudeai) The launch marks a broader push by Anthropic to position Claude as a workplace productivity platform, extending its capabilities beyond generating text, writing code and answering queries to creating and editing tools that teams can use in their day-to-day operations and 'work at the speed of thought'. Available across Claude's paid plans, Whiteboards and Sheets will allow users to work with Claude on shared digital boards and spreadsheets, while Claude Data will offer data stories, certified queries and live sharing. The products will be accessible on web, desktop and mobile, the company said. Live Events Anthropic said the move addresses a limitation in how people have traditionally worked with AI assistants as users often had to copy outputs into separate applications to continue editing or collaborate with colleagues. With the new tools, documents, boards, spreadsheets and dashboards can remain within Claude, allowing teams to work on them together. What is Claude Whiteboards? How does it work? Claude Whiteboards is a collaborative digital whiteboard that allows users to brainstorm, organise ideas and develop project plans with Claude and their colleagues in real time. Users can describe an idea or discuss an unstructured plan with Claude, which can then turn the input into a structured board containing timelines, assigned owners and dates. Teams can also add notes during meetings, ask Claude to group them by themes and generate action items for individual members. Agencies Source: Claude The tool also allows users to select specific sections of a board and ask Claude questions about them. Once the brainstorming process is complete, Claude can convert the board into a document or presentation. Users can also take their work into partner platforms such as Lucid, Miro and Vani by Zoho to continue collaborating. The tool is aimed at reducing the friction between brainstorming with an AI assistant and turning those ideas into work that teams can collectively develop and execute. What is Claude Sheets? AI-powered spreadsheet creation and editing Claude Sheets allows users to create and edit spreadsheets with the help of AI. Users can generate spreadsheets through natural-language prompts, with Claude building features such as multiple tabs, formulas, formatting and drop-down menus. For instance, a user can ask Claude to create a campaign tracker or hiring budget, rather than building the spreadsheet manually. Claude can also make changes directly within cells and outline its edits, allowing users to track what has been modified. The spreadsheets can be shared with colleagues, enabling teams to work on them alongside Claude. Anthropic said Claude Sheets currently supports basic spreadsheet functionality, with more capabilities in development. Users requiring the full functionality of Microsoft Excel can export their files in XLSX or CSV formats or use Claude for Excel. The company is also integrating the workflow with platforms such as Airtable, Asana, Monday.com and Smartsheet, allowing users to continue working in those applications. Claude Data replaces Claude Dashboards: What's new? Anthropic has renamed Claude Dashboards, which launched in beta in October, as Claude Data, reflecting a broader set of capabilities around how businesses use and share data. The product, now generally available, allows teams to ask questions about company data connected through platforms such as Amazon Redshift, BigQuery and ClickHouse. Its newer features include certified queries, live sharing and data storytelling, with certified queries and live sharing currently in beta. One of the key additions is the ability for data teams to certify metric definitions and queries. This is intended to ensure that different teams use consistent definitions when building dashboards and analysing business performance. Charts based on approved metrics carry a certified badge. Claude Data can also help users create data stories and narrated videos from business metrics, which can be reviewed before being shared with colleagues. Its live-sharing feature allows colleagues to view updated figures on shared dashboards even if they do not have direct access to the data connectors maintaining those figures. Viewers can see the results of approved queries but cannot run additional queries using the owner's access. Other additions include support for company design systems, caching to improve dashboard loading speeds, configurable refresh schedules and version tracking. Users can see who has edited a dashboard and roll back to an earlier version. Anthropic's partners for Claude Data include Amplitude, Mixpanel, Omni, PostHog and Sigma. What's the agenda? The latest launches are part of Anthropic's broader effort to extend the impact of Claude Code, its AI coding product, to non-technical teams. Anthropic said its goal is to bring the same shift seen among software developers, who have moved from writing code line by line to describing what they want built and reviewing the output, to other areas of work. The company cited examples from its own operations. Its legal team built a Slack-based legal review tool with Claude that uses the team's internal playbook to automatically generate redlines. Anthropic said the tool reduced marketing reviews from three days to 24 hours, with straightforward corrections made before a lawyer reviews the draft. Its finance team, meanwhile, converted a lengthy business update document for executives into an interactive page that the entire team can update collaboratively with Claude. Anthropic said these tools were built by employees who do not write code but used their domain expertise to create solutions for their teams. The company is also developing Claude Meetings , which is expected to allow users to add Claude to calls so it can take notes and update documents that teams are working on during conversations. With Whiteboards, Sheets, Data and interactive connectors, Anthropic is positioning Claude as a platform where teams can move from an initial idea to a working document, spreadsheet or data dashboard, while retaining the context of their work throughout the process. Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! Read More News on Anthropic Claude Whiteboards Claude Sheets Claude Data AI workplace tools Claude meetings anthropic news claude tools how to use claude Microsoft Read More News on Anthropic Claude Whiteboards Claude Sheets Claude Data AI workplace tools Claude meetings anthropic news claude tools how to use claude Microsoft Prime Exclusives Investment Ideas Stock Report Plus ePaper Wealth Edition Business of Odd Things: The farm that needs no land, freshwater, or fertiliser KYC and KYB: Inside Pidilite, the company that turned Fevicol into a word for a strong bond – Part 1 of 3 Seoul halts trading, Nifty has its best week since 2021: Money leaving the AI trade – will it land in India? Junk bonds are cracking at the bottom. Will the noise get loud enough to make ‘junk bond’ a household term again? PNG connections rise half a million, but how many use piped gas for cooking? Some electio