AI at Work? 3 Things to Consider Before Making Anthropic's Claude Your Coworker

PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

Mike Krieger may be best known as the co-founder of Instagram, but he's now the chief product officer at Anthropic, which makes Claude, a business-focused ChatGPT competitor with an equally powerful AI model.

Claude exists as a free, standalone chatbot, though Anthropic also offers paid plans for individuals and large organizations. Today, Anthropic teased a new capability that could keep people using Claude all day or even automate parts of their jobs entirely.

Dubbed "computer use," the feature integrates Claude with apps you already use and controls your PC "the way people do—by looking at a screen, moving a cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text."

Computer use is currently limited to developers who sign up for the Claude API. But it comes about five months after Krieger joined Anthropic and received his marching orders from CEO Dario Amodei: figure out how to make Claude useful at work.

Krieger tells PCMag that the platform has "millions" of individual users, but its main focus is growing the number of business accounts—already in the "tens of thousands"—by positioning its AI as an "invaluable assistant." The problem is that most companies are still trying to figure out how to use AI and move it from a buzzy moonshot to a revenue driver.

In an email, Krieger offered three tips for companies that want to get started with AI.

1. Identify specific ways AI can add immediate value. "Start with small pilot projects that have clear objectives and measurable outcomes to gain experience and demonstrate ROI before scaling," he writes.

2. Invest in education and training across your organization. "Ensure employees understand AI's capabilities and limitations for effective implementation and responsible use."

3. Prioritize ethics and data security from the outset. "Establish clear guidelines for AI usage that align with company values and comply with regulations. Remember, responsible AI adoption involves fostering a culture of innovation balanced with ethical awareness."

The ethical considerations are multifaceted. Are these AIs putting people out of work, training on stolen data, or offering completely incorrect answers? Will humans become incapable of seeking out information on their own and become as dependent on chatbots as they are on TikTok, Instagram, or X? Krieger argues that Claude will not be as addictive as social media.

"Claude provides efficient, task-oriented support across various applications, delivering helpful results and allowing users to continue work independently," he says. "Our models...are designed to enhance productivity and problem-solving, not to capture attention or create dependency."

Krieger insists that Anthropic is "committed to responsible AI development, guided by rigorous policies, extensive testing, and collaboration with external experts."

Anthropic's CEO supported the now-dead California AI safety bill, which would have introduced new safety and accountability mechanisms for large AI systems. At the same time, a group of authors is suing Anthropic for training its AI on copyrighted books, which the company has not addressed publicly.

AI brings with it a laundry list of technical unknowns. AI works differently than "traditional software," Krieger says, as evidenced by how models like Claude evolve based on user feedback. Whereas Instagram "likes" mostly pad the poster's ego, a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a Claude response can fundamentally change how the system responds to your next query.

This concept, called reinforcement learning, makes AI even more powerful, offering "increasingly valuable business solutions—a capability far beyond social media platforms," Krieger says. In five years, he expects Claude to "achieve expert-level competence" in many fields, such as healthcare, finance, and engineering. Is your business ready to put Claude on the payroll?