Anthropic adds ‘skills’ to Claude as AI firms invest more in usable agents
Anthropic just announced “skills” for its Claude model, a move that feels like the bot is finally trying to leave the lab and sit at a desk. For years AI agents floated around as ideas, then as demos; now the company says they’re putting more time and cash into making them actually useful, whether you’re a casual user or a professional. The focus seems to be on workplace chores - things like pulling data from a spreadsheet or drafting a quick summary - tasks that could get done faster with a plug-in-style function.
“Skills” sounds like you’ll be able to call a specific module instead of chatting with a single, all-purpose bot. That said, Anthropic hasn’t spelled out exactly which functions will show up first or how you’ll hook them into your tools. The partnership hints at a bigger shift in the industry: more money, more engineers, and a clearer eye on real productivity gains.
I’m curious, but it’s still unclear whether Claude’s new toolkit will live up to the hype.
AI agents spent years as a concept and then as an experiment. Now, AI companies are devoting even more time and resources than before to make their agents actually useful for end users, whether they’re consumers or professionals. Anthropic turns to ‘skills’ to make Claude more useful at work The announcement follows a similar new tool from OpenAI.
The announcement follows a similar new tool from OpenAI. Anthropic on Thursday announced its next step toward that goal: Skills for Claude. The tool is made up of “folders that include instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude can load when needed to make it smarter at specific work tasks — from working with Excel [to] following your organization’s brand guidelines,” per a release.
People can also build their own Skills for Claude relative to their specific jobs and use them across Claude.ai, Claude Code, Anthropic’s API, and the Claude Agent SDK. Box, Rakuten, and Canva have already used the tool, according to the release.
Anthropic’s latest Claude update adds on-demand “skills” that are supposed to make the assistant more useful at work. The idea is to give users modular tools they can call when needed, a move that mirrors a similar feature OpenAI rolled out recently. After years of being treated more like a research demo, AI agents are finally getting more engineering time and budget, according to the announcement.
Still, it’s hard to say whether these new capabilities will actually boost productivity for everyday users or professionals. The brief rollout notes that the skills target end-user tasks, but Anthropic didn’t share any performance numbers or real-world test results. As companies keep pushing agents toward practical use, we’ll probably see a flood of feature-rich prototypes hitting the market.
Whether they become dependable assistants that people rely on, or remain niche tools for specific workflows, remains an open question.
More in LLMs & Generative AI
Google pushes Gemini rollout to 2026, delays Android Assistant swap
Why does this matter now? For years, Android users have expected a smooth handoff from the familiar...
OpenAI now adds tone controls and streamlined email editing to ChatGPT
OpenAI just rolled out a set of tweaks that feel oddly personal for a chatbot. While the core model...
Google releases FunctionGemma, a tiny model for natural‑language mobile control
Here's the thing: mobile phones are the most common computing platform, yet most AI assistants...
Chinese scammers used AI images for refund fraud; police held buyer eight days
When a shopper in Shanghai posted a video of a defective product, the footage looked...
Gemini pulls Google Calendar data to auto‑suggest meeting times in email replies
Why does this matter? In a flood of AI shortcuts that promise to shave minutes off daily tasks,...
Common Questions Answered
What is the purpose of Anthropic's new 'skills' feature for Claude?
The purpose of the new 'skills' feature is to push the Claude chatbot from being a prototype to becoming a practical tool for everyday use. Anthropic aims to make Claude more useful at work by adding modular capabilities that users can invoke on demand.
How does the 'skills' announcement relate to recent developments from OpenAI?
Anthropic's announcement of 'skills' for Claude follows a similar new tool that was recently unveiled by OpenAI. This suggests there is a broader industry push among AI companies toward developing more functional and usable agents for end users.
What shift in the AI industry does the article highlight regarding AI agents?
The article highlights a significant shift where AI agents are moving from being just a concept or an experiment to receiving substantial time and resources for practical development. Companies are now focusing on making these agents actually useful for consumers and professionals in everyday scenarios.