Anthropic Takes Aim at Google with In-App Browser Launch

Anthropic has launched a web browser within its flagship chatbot Claude Cowork. The move is part of the company's effort to cut out services like Google from the competition in AI development. According to Anthropic, the new in-app browser will be available on Enterprise plans and rolled out this week to Pro, Max, and Team subscribers. It will automatically detect when a prompt requires a web search and open the browser in a side panel. The browser does not have access to user login information for email, banking, or other online services unless entered manually.

The move is part of Anthropic's larger effort to turn its chatbot into a fully-fledged agent that can manage users' entire digital lives from a single window. This mirrors efforts by other AI startups like OpenAI and Perplexity. However, some industry experts have raised concerns about the vulnerability of AI agents to prompt injection attacks.

Anthropic noted in its blog post that prompt injection attacks remain a risk within the new in-app browser, and it uses the same safety guardrails already built into the Claude in Chrome extension.