Anthropic, the AI startup backed by Google and Amazon, has announced significant updates to the default system prompts for its text-based dialogue platform, Claude.ai, as well as its Claude iOS and Android applications.
These changes, detailed in a newly added release notes section within Anthropic’s documentation, aim to enhance the user experience by providing clear and concise information at the start of each conversation. The updates also encourage specific behaviors, such as the inclusion of code snippets formatted in Markdown.
The release notes emphasize that these updates apply solely to Claude.ai and its mobile apps, and do not affect the Anthropic API.
The new system prompts are part of Anthropic’s ongoing efforts to improve Claude’s capabilities. The company recently unveiled its most powerful AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which is capable of assisting with a wide range of tasks including analysis, answering questions, mathematics, coding, creative writing, teaching, and role-play.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is designed to provide comprehensive responses to complex inquiries while remaining concise when addressing simpler ones. The model also avoids unnecessary affirmations or filler phrases and consistently responds in the language used or requested by the user.
Anthropic emphasizes that Claude currently lacks the ability to open URLs, links, or videos, and cannot retain or learn from ongoing conversations. However, users are encouraged to provide feedback to Anthropic if they are dissatisfied with Claude’s performance.
This latest development follows Anthropic’s unveiling of Claude 3.5 Sonnet, a model lauded for its speed and efficiency. However, the company has faced recent challenges, including an investigation by a U.K. regulator regarding potential anti-competitive practices in its partnership with Amazon. Anthropic is also currently dealing with a class-action lawsuit filed by three authors alleging copyright infringement in the training of its AI chatbot.
These changes reflect Anthropic’s commitment to improving the user experience and further solidifying Claude’s position as a leading AI platform.
