Web search via API: Anthropic expands its AI developer interface

Anthropic has added a web search function to the developer interface of its AI. This means that current information from the Internet can now also be accessed via Claude during API accesses. This enables developers to create AI-based applications and agents that access real-time information, as Anthropic explains in a blog post. The web search was released for users of Anthropic's chatbot back in March.

Claude uses its "reasoning" capabilities to decide when it makes sense to use the web search function. If this is the case, the AI generates targeted search queries, analyzes the key information and outputs the answers with references. If necessary, the system can also carry out several consecutive searches. The model can also fall back on previous search results for subsequent queries.

Adjustable block lists

Anthropic cites several examples where web search enables new use cases. In the area of financial services, for example, real-time share prices can be accessed in order to analyze them. In the legal sector, current court decisions could be taken into account and developer tools would now be able to access new API documentation.

Users of the API can use allow and block lists to control which search results are to be used in the web search. It is also possible to set permissions for the use of web search at organizational level, as this is associated with additional costs. Web search is also available in Claude Code.

Additional costs due to web searches

The new API feature is available for Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude 3.5 Haiku. A fee of 10 US dollars is charged per thousand searches. The standard token costs of the respective model are added.

Anthropic's competitor OpenAI had already integrated Websearch into its developer interfaces in March with its Responses API.

(mki)