Anthropic merges Claude tools into a single interface and adds document creators

Anthropic is restructuring its Claude artificial intelligence assistant to combine its chat, collaborative "Cowork" features, and visual editing tools into a single, unified interface.

The overhaul, which the company announced on Wednesday, is a direct response to user feedback. Anthropic said customers had grown frustrated with having to manually toggle between different modes and tools depending on the specific task they were trying to complete. Under the newly designed system, the AI assistant will automatically work out which capabilities are required for a prompt and deploy them in the background without needing user intervention.

Alongside the streamlined interface, Anthropic is launching two new creation tools in beta: Claude Docs and Claude Slides. These features are designed to let users build text documents, slide decks, and visual layouts directly within a single ongoing conversation with the AI.

To make these tools more practical for daily office use, Anthropic is building in wider file compatibility. Users will be able to export their Claude-generated work directly into standard business applications, including Google Docs, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and PDFs. The company’s visual workspace, Claude Design, is also being folded into this main interface, meaning users can edit graphics and layouts in the same window where they write text.

The update mirrors a broader trend in the generative AI market, where developers are trying to turn simple chatbots into comprehensive productivity suites. Last July, rival OpenAI launched ChatGPT Work, a similar consolidation that combined its main conversational model with its specialised programming tool to remove friction for users. Both start-ups, which are widely expected to seek initial public offerings in the future, are locked in an aggressive race to capture enterprise clients and non-technical office workers looking for AI-powered productivity tools.

The rollout of Anthropic's new features will be gradual. The company said the unified interface and the new Docs and Slides beta tools will first become available to paying subscribers on its premium Pro and Max plans. This initial phase will hit web, desktop, and mobile platforms over the coming weeks. Users on the collaborative Team tier and the standard Free tier will receive the updates at a later, unspecified date.