Anthropic launches new version of scaled-down ‘Haiku’ model

On Wednesday, Anthropic introduced Claude Haiku 4.5, the latest iteration of its compact AI model, which promises to deliver performance comparable to Sonnet 4 while being significantly more cost-effective and faster. According to a blog update from the company, this new version operates at one-third the cost and boasts over twice the speed of its predecessor. In extensive testing, Haiku achieved impressive benchmark scores, hitting 73% on the SWE-Bench and 41% on the Terminal-Bench. While these figures fall short of Sonnet 4.5, they align closely with Sonnet 4, GPT-5, and Gemini 2.5. Furthermore, the model demonstrated consistent performance across various tasks, including tool usage, computer operation, and visual reasoning. Available immediately under all free Anthropic plans, Haiku 4.5 is designed to appeal to users of free AI products by providing substantial capabilities while reducing server strain. Its lightweight design allows for the deployment of multiple Haiku agents simultaneously or in conjunction with more advanced models. Anthropic's Chief Product Officer, Mike Krieger, highlighted the transformative potential of Haiku in production settings. He stated, "This opens up entirely new categories of what’s possible with AI in production environments – with Sonnet managing complex planning while Haiku-powered sub-agents execute tasks rapidly." This flexibility offers users a comprehensive toolkit of agents, each tailored for specific tasks based on intelligence, speed, and cost. The most promising applications for Haiku 4.5 are anticipated in the realm of software development tools, where rapid response times are crucial. Andrew Filev, CEO of Zencoder, noted that this new model is set to unlock a host of new use cases. Haiku 4.5 follows a series of significant releases from Anthropic, including Sonnet 4.5 two weeks ago and Opus 4.1 two months prior, both of which received accolades for their state-of-the-art capabilities. The previous iteration of Haiku debuted in October 2024.