OpenAI rival Anthropic launches AI assistant Claude in European Union

Claude 2 AI and ChatGPT icons seen in an iPhone

ChatGPT rival Claude is now available in the European Union.

Claude, developed by Amazon-backed start-up Anthropic, is an AI assistant that is able to perform tasks on behalf of users such as writing essays or summarising information.

Considered one of OpenAI’s major rivals in the generative AI space, Anthropic claims that Claude is “designed to be as trustworthy as it is capable”.

The company says it has dedicated teams that track and mitigate risks including misinformation, bias, election interference and national security threats.

Anthropic has also developed a special method by which to train the AI assistant, called “constitutional AI”.

The method is billed as training Claude to stick to a “constitution” of values, and to avoid doing harm.

Already available in the US and UK, the Claude IOS app, web app and business plan are now available to people and businesses in the EU.

Dario Amodei, chief executive and co-founder at Anthropic, said Claude has been designed with a “strong commitment” to “accuracy, security and privacy”.

“Claude puts users in control and gives them the ability to easily create, iterate and augment their ideas at work and in their daily lives,” he said.

“Millions of people worldwide are already using Claude to do things like accelerate scientific processes, enhance customer service or refine their writing.

“I look forward to seeing what people and businesses across Europe create with Claude.”

Both the web app and the Claude iOS app are available for free.

Claude Pro, a premium version of the web app, is available for 18 euros plus VAT per month, or local currency equivalent.

In March, it was reported that Amazon took a minority stake in Anthropic, agreeing to invest up to four billion dollars (£3.19 billion) in the company.

Under the deal, Anthropic agreed to use AWS as its primary cloud provider, and to use Amazon’s chips to build and train AI models.

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