Claude is the best all around AI experience for regular people

Monday, Feb 24th, Anthropic launched Claude 3.7 Sonnet, their latest and greatest AI model making their product even better. It combines the ability to provide immediate responses with the ability to reason longer on more complex subjects. This launch does provide an improvement in performance and expands the boundaries of what we can expect from AI, however I'm most excited about the improvement in user experience.

Beyond my personal experience, the technical capabilities of the model are genuinely impressive. Industry expert Ethan Mollick confirms this assessment:

Before we get there, a quick review: this new generation of AIs is smarter and the jump in capabilities is striking, particularly in how these models handle complex tasks, math and code. These models often give me the same feeling I had when using ChatGPT-4 for the first time, where I am equally impressed and a little unnerved by what it can do.

While these technical advancements are significant, what truly sets Claude 3.7 Sonnet apart for me is how it simplifies the user experience. Providing one main model with extended reasoning capabilities creates a far more intuitive experience compared to the complex lineup currently offered by OpenAI.

• GPT-4o ("Great for most questions)
• GPT-4o with scheduled tasks ("Ask ChatGPT to follow up later")
• o1 ("Uses advanced reasoning")
• o3-mini ("Fast at advanced reasoning")
• o3-mini-high ("Great at coding and logic")

Every one of their offerings has a purpose and a situation in which they excel but it's not set up for a regular person to easily understand. With Anthropic's launch of this hybrid model that can provide a more streamlined entrance to most use cases, it really can be a one-stop shop. Anthropic's offering currently stands at:

• Claude 3.7 Sonnet ("Our most intelligent model yet")
  • Normal mode ("Best for most use cases")
  • Extended mode ("Best for math and coding challenges")
• Claude 3.5 Haiku ("Fastest model for daily tasks")
  This is just a moment in time and I'm sure OpenAI has more in store but right now, there's less cognitive load for a newcomer to figure out what they should be using with Anthropic.

This streamlined model approach reflects Anthropic's broader philosophy of prioritizing user experience. In fact, Anthropic has consistently demonstrated a commitment to product experience that extends well beyond their model selection strategy. Claude was the first to provide "projects" allowing you to silo work and special instructions for particular areas of focus. For instance, I have a writing project set up with prompts for the type of feedback I'm looking for, tips on my writing style for when it makes recommendations, as well as notes on my target audience. None of that is necessary if I'm looking for a smoothie recipe or trying to strategize on how to bring down the death star. They launched artifacts providing a persistent anchor for document updates in a chat as well as allowing you to see the outputs of web pages or simple applications in the Claude web app. Their head of product comes from Instagram rather than a research lab. The science is no doubt as important but they seem to care about the experience. As someone that has to interact with it, I appreciate it.

These user-centered design choices ultimately create a more accessible entry point for mainstream adoption. When cutting to the brass tacks: Claude is my go to recommendation for people less interested in the frontier model horse race and just trying to increase their use and knowledge of AI. I don't think that necessarily means Anthropic will win and I don't even think we can say yet what winning might look like. However, for now, it's a very reasonable destination for daily use.