Anthropic’s Claude 3 Enhances Functionality with New Tool Use Feature

Anthropic
has
announced
the
general
availability
of
tool
use
across
the
entire
Claude
3
model
family.
This
new
feature,
now
accessible
through
the
Anthropic
Messages
API,
Amazon
Bedrock,
and
Google
Cloud’s
Vertex
AI,
enables
Claude
to
interact
with
external
tools
and
APIs
for
performing
tasks,
manipulating
data,
and
delivering
more
dynamic
and
accurate
responses,
according
to

Anthropic.

Tool
Use
Capabilities

The
tool
use
feature
allows
users
to
define
a
toolset
for
Claude
and
specify
requests
in
natural
language.
Claude
then
selects
the
appropriate
tool
to
fulfill
the
task
and
executes
the
corresponding
actions.
Key
functionalities
include:

• 
  Extracting
  structured
  data
  from
  unstructured
  text:
  For
  instance,
  pulling
  names,
  dates,
  and
  amounts
  from
  invoices
  to
  reduce
  manual
  data
  entry.
• 
  Converting
  natural
  language
  requests
  into
  structured
  API
  calls:
  Enabling
  teams
  to
  self-serve
  common
  actions
  with
  simple
  commands.
• 
  Answering
  questions
  by
  searching
  databases
  or
  using
  web
  APIs:
  Providing
  instant
  and
  accurate
  responses
  to
  customer
  inquiries
  in
  support
  chatbots.
• 
  Automating
  tasks
  through
  software
  APIs:
  Saving
  time
  and
  minimizing
  errors
  in
  data
  entry
  or
  file
  management.
• 
  Orchestrating
  multiple
  Claude
  subagents
  for
  granular
  tasks:
  Automatically
  finding
  the
  optimal
  meeting
  time
  based
  on
  attendee
  availability.

Enhanced
Developer
Experience

Anthropic
has
also
introduced
features
to
help
developers
customize
the
end-user
experience
when
leveraging
the
intelligence
of
the
Claude
3
models.
These
features
include:

• 
  Tool
  use
  with
  streaming:
  Reducing
  wait
  times
  to
  create
  more
  engaging
  interactions,
  such
  as
  real-time
  responses
  in
  customer
  support
  chatbots.
• 
  Forced
  tool
  use:
  Allowing
  developers
  to
  instruct
  Claude
  on
  tool
  selection,
  creating
  more
  targeted
  and
  efficient
  applications.
• 
  Image
  tool
  use:
  Enabling
  Claude
  to
  incorporate
  image
  inputs
  in
  live
  applications.

During
the
beta
phase,
developers
used
Opus
to
build
sophisticated
user-facing
assistants.
Opus
now
includes
<thinking>
tags
in
its
outputs
to
clarify
Claude’s
reasoning
and
simplify
debugging
for
developers.
However,
the
Claude
3
models
currently
do
not
support
parallel
tool
calls.

Customer
Success
Stories

StudyFetch

StudyFetch,
an
AI-native
learning
platform,
leverages
Claude’s
tool
use
capabilities
to
power
its
personalized
AI
tutor,
Spark.E.
By
integrating
tools
to
track
student
progress,
navigate
course
materials,
and
create
interactive
user
interfaces,
StudyFetch
has
enhanced
the
educational
environment
for
students
globally.

Ryan
Trattner,
CTO
and
Co-Founder
at
StudyFetch,
noted, “Claude
with
tool
use
is
accurate
and
cost-effective,
and
now
powers
our
live
voice-enabled
AI
tutoring
sessions.
Since
implementing
Claude
with
tool
use,
we’ve
observed
a
42%
increase
in
positive
human
feedback.”

Intuned

Intuned,
a
browser
automation
platform,
utilizes
Claude
to
power
data
extraction
within
their
cloud
platform.
This
AI-powered
data
extraction
has
significantly
improved
the
developer
experience
in
building
and
executing
more
reliable
browser
automations.

Faisal
Ilaiwi,
Co-Founder
at
Intuned,
stated, “Claude
3
Haiku
with
tool
use
has
been
a
game
changer
for
us.
Haiku
is
helping
us
scale
our
customers’
data
extraction
tasks
to
a
completely
new
level.”

Hebbia

Hebbia,
which
focuses
on
AI
knowledge
workers
for
financial
and
legal
services
firms,
uses
Claude
3
Haiku
to
support
complex,
multi-step
customer
workflows.
Divya
Mehta,
Product
Manager
at
Hebbia,
shared, “We
leverage
Claude
3
Haiku
for
generating
live
suggestions,
automating
prompt
writing,
and
extracting
key
metadata
from
long
documents.
Haiku’s
tool
use
feature
has
unlocked
capabilities
and
speed
for
our
platform
to
generate
reliable
suggestions
and
prompts
in
real-time.”

Getting
Started

The
tool
use
feature
is
now
available
on
the
Anthropic
Messages
API,
Amazon
Bedrock,
and
Google
Cloud’s
Vertex
AI.
Developers
can
explore
the

documentation
and
the

Anthropic
Cookbooks
on
tool
use
to
get
started.

Image
source:
Shutterstock

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