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Claude can now search the web

anthropic.com

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Re: Claude can now search the web

#161

Post by simonw »

magackame wrote: post #121
tcdent wrote: post #102

Searching the web is a great feature in theory, but every implementation I've used so far looks at the top X hits and then interprets it to be the correct answer. When you're talking to an LLM about popular topics or common errors, the top results are often just blogspam or unresolved forum posts, so the you never get an answer to your problem. More of an indicator that web search is more unusable than ever, but inte…

Google search is crap. It seems to be a sentiment among many HNers, but is it really that bad? I mostly use it for programming, so documentation/forums and it works out greatly. For some queries it even returns personal blogs (which people seem to bash google for not happening). Of course there are some queries that return purely AI blogspam, but reformatting the query with a bit more thought usually solves it. I won…

How long have you been using Google search for?

It used to be SO much less likely to return junk.

Re: Claude can now search the web

#163

Post by ralusek »

Best models for search, in order:

OpenAI Deep Research

Grok Deep Search

Gemini Deep Research

Grok + Search

Gemini + Search

ChatGPT + Search

These are just my opinions, but I do use this feature all the time. Haven't used Claude enough to get a sense of where it would fit in.

Re: Claude can now search the web

#164

Post by pdimitar »

_heimdall wrote: post #131
yoyohello13 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The longer I've been in the workforce, the more I realize most humans actually kind of suck at their jobs. LLMs being more human like is the opposite of what I want.

That could very well be because the jobs are effectively useless. By no means does that mean the people are, nor is what the income allows them to do. But most jobs sure do seem pointless.

Both are true, separately in different situations. And sometimes both at the same time.

There are a lot of useless employees out there. So, so much.

And a ton of bullshit jobs as well.

Re: Claude can now search the web

#165

Post by simonw »

douglee650 wrote: post #155

You know what Claude can't do? Successfully vibe me a solution to: """ i need a bashrc command that will map the alias "logg" to open macvim to the file at ~/log.txt, then execute the macro defined by " z" """ Note z ends with user in insert mode, Claude provides solution below but puts me in edit mode. (I still have to press "i") alias loggg='mvim ~/log.txt -c "normal \ z"'

I don't find that prompt to be particularly clear.

Re: Claude can now search the web

#166

Post by birken »

_2d30 wrote: post #39
NBJack wrote: post #10

I wonder if it will actually respect the robots.txt this time.

I don't think it should. If a user asks the AI to read the web for them, it should read the web for them. This isn't a vacuum charged with crawling the web, it's an adhoc GET request.

The AI isn't "reading the web" though, they are reading the top hits on the search results, and are free-riding on the access that Google/Bing gets in order to provide actual user traffic to their sites. Many webmasters specifically opt their pages out of being in the search results (via robots.txt and/or "noindex" directives) when they believe the cost/benefit of the bot traffic isn't worth the user traffic they may get from being in the search results.

One of my websites that gets a decent amount of traffic has pretty close to a 1-1 ratio of Googlebot accesses compared to real user traffic referred from Google. As a webmaster I'm happy with this and continue to allow Google to access the site.

If ChatGPT is giving my website a ratio of 100 bot accesses (or more) compared to 1 actual user sent to my site, I very much should have to right to decline their access.

Re: Claude can now search the web

#167

Post by simonw »

hansmayer wrote: post #157

So, referring specifically to the example they show on the front-page, what value does this bring actually? The best example they could come up with is Typescript migration ? Really? Weren't the LLMs supposed to be a superior alternative to searching the web? Why do we need to produce more CO2 to do the same we could have done at the fraction of the cost, of course at the time when the google search was still working…

The CO2 concerns of using LLMs are massively overblown these days (with the exception of o1-pro and GPT-4.5 at least).

The energy efficiency of most models has improved by an order of magnitude since the most widely cited CO2 usage papers were published.

(It remains frustratingly difficult to get accurate numbers though: at this point I think more transparency would help rather than hurt the big AI labs)

Re: Claude can now search the web

#168

Post by simonw »

tgtweak wrote: post #97

Feels like a catch-up feature to chatgpt... honestly the biggest holdback for me on anthropic is the output token limit on sonnet... 8000 tokens max output is really limited (and 200k tokens in) compared to other offerings - especially considering that I suspect most sonnet users are not chat-users but api users.

The output limit of Claude 3.7 Sonnet Thinking is much higher (128,000): https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/25/llm-anthropic-014/#a-m...

Re: Claude can now search the web

#169

Post by bag_boy »

Beijinger wrote: post #133
magackame wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google search is crap. It seems to be a sentiment among many HNers, but is it really that bad? I mostly use it for programming, so documentation/forums and it works out greatly. For some queries it even returns personal blogs (which people seem to bash google for not happening). Of course there are some queries that return purely AI blogspam, but reformatting the query with a bit more thought usually solves it. I won…

Is google search bad? Click here to find ten reasons why it is bad and 10 reasons why you should still use it. Yes, it is that bad. Website of Nike? Website of Starbucks? Likely position number one. Every product, category etc., e.g. what rice cooker should I buy? Is diseased by link and affiliate spam. There is a reason why people put +reddit on search terms.

But who is creating honest articles about which rice cookers you should buy?

BTW - the search you suggested gives you Reddit links first followed by other trusted sites trying to make an affiliate buck. There’s no spam on the first page.

Re: Claude can now search the web

#170

Post by nicoty »

rustc wrote: post #144
Beijinger wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is google search bad? Click here to find ten reasons why it is bad and 10 reasons why you should still use it. Yes, it is that bad. Website of Nike? Website of Starbucks? Likely position number one. Every product, category etc., e.g. what rice cooker should I buy? Is diseased by link and affiliate spam. There is a reason why people put +reddit on search terms.

What kind of results does Kagi give for "What rice cooker should I buy?"? (Not asking you specifically, but if any Kagi user could compare.)

Copied verbatim from the AI generated summary:

To choose the best rice cooker, consider these factors:

Top Brands: Zojirushi is often considered the best brand, with Cuckoo and Tiger as close contenders. Aroma is considered a good budget brand 1. Types: Basic on/off rice cookers: These are good for simple white or brown rice cooking and are usually affordable and easy to use 2. Considerations: When buying a rice cooker, also consider noise levels, especially from beeping alerts and fan operation 3. Specific Recommendations: Yum Asia Panda Mini Advanced Fuzzy Logic Ceramic Rice Cooker is recommended for versatility 4. Yum Asia Bamboo rice cooker is considered the best overall 5. Russell Hobbs large rice cooker is a good budget option 5. For one to two people, you don't need a large rice cooker unless cost and space aren't a concern 6. Basic one-button models can be found for under $50, mid-range options around $100-$200, and high-end cookers for hundreds of dollars 6. References What is the best rice cooker brand ? : r/Cooking - Reddit www.reddit.com The Ultimate Rice Cooker Guide: How to Choose the Right One for Your Needs www.expertreviewsbestricecooker.com Best Rice Cooker UK | Posh Living Magazine posh.co.uk Best rice cookers for making perfectly fluffy grains - BBC Good Food www.bbcgoodfood.com The best rice cookers for gloriously fluffy grains at home www.theguardian.com Do You Really Need A Rice Cooker? (The Answer Is Yes.) - HuffPost www.huffpost.com

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