What is Claude?

1In one sentence

Claude is a computer program you talk to in normal words, and it talks back: it can answer questions, write things for you, read your documents, and help you think.

2New words

3Why you would want it

Think of the moments when you wish someone smart was sitting next to you: writing a difficult email, understanding a long document, planning a trip, learning something new, or just getting your thoughts in order. Claude is that someone, available any time, and it never gets tired of questions.

4Try it now

1. Open your web browser and go to claude.ai.
2. Create an account with your email, or sign in if you have one.
3. You will see an empty box at the bottom of the screen. That box is where you type.
4. Type exactly this: Explain in 5 simple lines what you can do for someone who has never used you before.
5. Press Enter.

5What you will see

First, the empty page with the box where you type:

Then, a few seconds after you press Enter, five short lines in friendly, plain words:

Notice that it writes like a person, not like a search engine, and that you can simply reply to it as if you were texting a friend.

6Watch out

• Claude sounds confident even when it is wrong. For anything important (a date, a price, a law, a medical fact), check it somewhere else too. Chapter 4.8 shows you how.
• Claude does not know you. The first time, it only knows what you type. Tell it who you are and what you need, and the answers get much better.

7Go further