Claude (finally) searches the web

PLUS: Apple shuffles AI leadership amid Siri crisis

Author

Rowan Cheung
March 21, 2025

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. Claude's days of being stuck in the past are officially over — with Anthropic finally giving its powerful AI assistant the ability to search and cite real-time web information.

With web search now in one of the market's most powerful models, will this late but crucial addition be the upgrade that puts the company ahead in the AI assistant race?

P.S. Don’t miss our next workshop today at 4 PM EST to learn how to use AI to transform images for content creation and creative projects. RSVP here.

In today’s AI rundown:

  • Claude gets real-time web search

  • OpenAI's voice AI with personality boost

  • Bring old photos to life with color

  • Apple shuffles AI leadership amid Siri crisis

  • 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

ANTHROPIC

Image source: Anthropic

The Rundown: Anthropic just added web search capabilities to Claude, giving its AI assistant access to real-time information and closing a major feature gap with competitors like ChatGPT and Gemini.

The details:

  • Web search integrates directly with Claude 3.7 Sonnet and automatically determines when to surf the internet for more current or accurate information.

  • Claude provides direct citations for web-sourced information, allowing users to verify sources and fact-check responses easily.

  • The feature is now available to all paid Claude users in the U.S., with international and free-tier expansion planned for the near future.

  • Users can also access the feature by toggling on the ‘Web Search’ tool in the profile settings of the platform.

Why it matters: It’s hard to believe it took this long for Claude to gain access to the web, given how long ago its rivals debuted the feature. But Anthropic’s models are among the most capable on the market — and getting real-time information gives a boost that could completely undercut more search-specific options like Perplexity.

TOGETHER WITH TURING

The Rundown: Turing’s AGI Icons speaker series brings you direct access to the world’s top AI leaders like Sam Altman, Adam D’Angelo, and Jeff Dean — covering everything from the cutting-edge breakthroughs shaping tomorrow’s world to the ethical and societal implications of advanced AI.

Attend AGI Icons and experience:

  • Access to exclusive insights and in-depth conversations with AI visionaries

  • Exploration of the latest advances and ethical considerations in AI

  • Global networking with a community of AI enthusiasts and experts worldwide

OPENAI

Image source: OpenAI

The Rundown: OpenAI launched its next-gen API-based audio models for text-to-speech and speech-to-text, giving developers the ability to customize AI speaking styles via text and delivering improved speech recognition across multiple languages.

The details:

  • The new gpt-4o-mini-tts model adapts its speaking style based on simple text prompts — like "speak like a pirate" or "use a bedtime story voice."

  • The GPT-4o-transcribe speech-to-text models reach SOTA performance across accuracy and reliability tests, outperforming existing Whisper models.

  • OpenAI also released openai.fm, a public demo platform allowing users to test different voice styles and experience the new models firsthand.

  • The models are available through OpenAI's API, with integration support through the Agents SDK for developers building voice-enabled AI assistants.

Why it matters: AI voice agents are about to be integrated with all sorts of applications and platforms — and being able to customize outputs with text commands is a massive unlock for more diverse, natural AI interactions. But these OpenAI demos don’t seem as human as voice rivals like Sesame and ElevenLabs, at least for now.

AI TRAINING

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the new native image generation feature in Gemini 2.0 Flash to instantly colorize black and white photos and make creative edits with simple text prompts.

Step-by-step:

  1. Visit Google AI Studio and select "Gemini 2.0 Flash (Image Generation) Experimental" from the “Models” dropdown.

  2. Upload your black-and-white image by clicking the message field’s "+" button.

  3. Type "Colorize this image" and hit Run to transform your photo.

  4. Make creative edits with additional prompts like "Add snow on the trees" or "Change the lighting to golden hour" and download your brand new image!

Pro tip: You should be very specific with color preferences in your prompts to get more personalized results. Try "colorize with warm, summer tones" instead of just "add color" for better outcomes.

PRESENTED BY INNOVATING WITH AI

The Rundown: Innovating with AI's new program, AI Consultancy Project, transforms AI enthusiasts into professional consultants — tapping into a market projected to reach $54.7B by 2032.

The 6-month program delivers:

  • Proven frameworks for client acquisition and service delivery

  • A step-by-step path to six-figure consulting income

  • Students who land their first AI client in as little as 3 days

APPLE

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Apple is making major changes to its AI leadership, according to Bloomberg insider Mark Gurman — with Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell taking over Siri development to accelerate its delayed AI features and catch up to competitors.

The details:

  • Siri’s most significant AI upgrades, including personalization features teased with iPhone 16 marketing, have faced delays with no release timeline in sight.

  • Rockwell will now report directly to software chief Craig Federighi, completely removing Siri from current AI leader John Giannandrea's oversight.

  • A recent internal assessment found significant issues with Siri’s development, with team leads revealing missed deadlines and implementation hurdles.

  • The changes follow discussions at Apple's exclusive annual leadership summit, where AI strategy emerged as a critical priority.

Why it matters: Apple’s AI era has been a disaster — with Apple Intelligence, which was once thought to be a major driver of mass adoption, turning out into a series of overpromises that don’t even come close to matching capabilities seen elsewhere across the industry. A shakeup is clearly needed, but it’s a big ship to turn around.

QUICK HITS

  • 🧠 Llama Nemotron - Nvidia’s new family of open-source reasoning models

  • 🤖 EXAONE Deep - LG’s newly released reasoning model series

  • 🌌 grok-2-image-1212 - xAI’s image generation model, now available via API

  • 🗣️ Epiphany - Turn voice notes into instant actions in your favorite tools

IMAGINE AI LIVE '25 connects business leaders with AI innovators for three days of enterprise AI discovery at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas May 28-30. Apply by Saturday, March 22 to save 20%.*

OpenAI released its o1-pro model via API, charging developers a whopping $150 and $600 per million input and output tokens — 10x the price of regular o1.

Perplexity is set to raise nearly $1B at an $18B valuation, potentially doubling its worth, as the AI search startup approaches $100M in annual recurring revenue.

Google’s NotebookLM added a new Interactive Mind Map feature, allowing users to turn their notes or source material into visual representations.

Meta is rolling out its AI assistant across 41 European countries — via Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger — after a year-long regulatory battle.

Hugging Face published a response to the White House’s AI Action Plan, advocating for open-source AI systems to drive innovation over commercial models.

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COMMUNITY

Join our next workshop this Friday at 4 PM EST to learn about how to use AI to transform and enhance images using AI for content creation and creative projects, with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor.

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See you soon,

Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

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