Anthropic unveils new Claude Opus 4.5, its 'most intelligent' model

In a significant move within the AI landscape, Anthropic has introduced Claude Opus 4.5, touting it as their most sophisticated model to date. This release comes just three months after the previous version, signaling the company's commitment to pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. Anthropic claims that the new model excels in generating complex computer code and producing workplace documents, including Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. Additionally, it features enhanced capabilities for developing more advanced AI agents capable of sustained interactions. "This model represents the pinnacle of intelligence for the tasks we prioritize," stated Alex Albert, Anthropic’s head of developer relations, in an interview with Business Insider. The launch of Opus 4.5 completes the Claude 4.5 lineup, which follows updates to Anthropic's other models, Sonnet and Haiku. While Opus models focus on intricate reasoning and challenging problem-solving, Sonnet and Haiku are engineered for speed and efficiency. This debut also follows Google’s introduction of its Gemini 3 model last week, intensifying competition within the sector. Designed primarily for business applications, Anthropic's Claude models are gaining traction in the enterprise AI market. A recent report by Menlo Ventures indicated that Anthropic leads with a 32% market share, surpassing OpenAI's 25%, which has seen a notable decline since two years ago. Google holds a 20% share, while Meta trails with 9%. Although Albert refrained from making direct comparisons to rival models, he emphasized that Opus 4.5 is tailored for tackling the most demanding cognitive tasks. For example, the model is capable of generating spreadsheets that meet "expert human-level quality," akin to those utilized by financial analysts. Notably, Anthropic reported that Opus 4.5 outperformed both Google’s Gemini 3 Pro and OpenAI's GPT 5.1 on the SWE-Bench Verified coding evaluation. "We are operating at a high velocity and continuously striving to produce the best models available," Albert remarked. Anthropic is also making headlines with its strategic financial moves, recently announcing a $30 billion effort to secure Nvidia chips through Microsoft’s cloud services. Nvidia has committed up to $10 billion in investments in Anthropic, with Microsoft pledging as much as $5 billion. These developments have sparked discussions regarding potential inflated valuations within the AI industry. Furthermore, Anthropic is reportedly in negotiations to secure additional funding from Google, which could elevate the company’s valuation to an impressive $350 billion, more than doubling its valuation from September, when it raised $13 billion.