Employees are increasingly using AI tools in the workplace, often accessing them through personal accounts, according to a recent MIT report. With at least 90% of employees regularly using LLMs in the office, it’s no wonder AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude are competing to add features that extend the capabilities of LLMs to assist in workplace activities like document creation.

Today, San Francisco-based AI lab Anthropic updated its Claude chatbot on the web and desktop apps to support new, direct document creation capabilities.

These features are similar to those of the recently released ChatGPT agent from OpenAI, which enables ChatGPT to browse the web for information, conduct research, download and create new files. 

The feature is available in preview version for Claude Max ($100 per user per month), Team ($30 monthly, $25 monthly billed annually, or $150 monthly for premium — all requiring at least 5 users from the same org), and Enterprise paying subscribers (variable pricing).

Anthropic says it will soon make its way to Pro users. When engaged, users can prompt the model to create Excel spreadsheets, documents, slide decks, and PDF files, similar to those made with PowerPoint. 

Anthropic said Claude creates files either from uploaded data or researched information. 

The platform can help users turn data into insights by taking information from raw data and returning “polished outputs with cleaned data, statistical analysis, charts and written insights.” Claude can build spreadsheets that include financial models, scenario trackers, budget templates, all with working formulas and multiple sheets. 

It also allows users to upload one type of document and ask Claude to create a different kind of file with information from the uploaded one. For example, a business analyst could upload a spreadsheet and prompt Claude to take insights from the file and create a PDF report. 

What makes Claude’s foray into document creation is its latest move to grow its market share in the enterprise AI space.

Already, its coding agent, Claude Code, is becoming a favorite among many developers. Adding the ability to create files with prompts, rather than just copying responses to a Word document, could further extend the enterprise interest. 

Private computer environment

Like ChatGPT, Claude uses a virtual private computer environment to create documents when instructed by a user.

“We’ve given Claude access to a private computer environment where it can write code and run programs to produce the files and analyses you need,” Anthropic said in a blog post. “This transforms Claude from an advisor into an active collaborator. You bring the context and strategy; Claude handles the technical implementation behind the scenes.”

ChatGPT agent uses the same method in that the model the user chooses on the platform uses a virtual computer which can access a browser, download files and manipulate them.

Anthropic said the addition of file creation on Claude “shows where we’re headed,” as it navigates providing people the ability to make multi-step workflows through conversations.

The company already provides some instances of Claude optimized for specific industries. Last month, Anthropic released Claude for Financial Services, a version of Claude Enterprise specifically designed for finance-related companies and tasks, helping to create workflows in this sector.

Meeting enterprise employees where they are

While many enterprises continue to figure out which AI applications they want to use, their employees are using the existing platforms available to them. 

Both OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as competitors like Google, Cohere, and Mistral, are all chasing enterprise users in hopes of becoming the de facto chatbots for employees. 

Google has the advantage of owning a workplace suite in Google Workspace, which allows people to create documents using Google Docs, although it doesn’t offer the same type of file creation on the chat platform yet. Claude and ChatGPT, and yes, Gemini, already allow users to generate and edit code with context on the platforms if they’re not interested in using their IDE of choice. 

Having the ability for users to use natural language to create any type of document they need, and just describe what they’d like to see, keeps people on the chatbot instead of switching to another window. 

Now, it’s just a matter for enterprises to figure out how to secure that kind of personal, shadow AI usage by their employees.