Anthropic, the developer of the AI-powered chatbot platform Claude, has introduced a web search feature, bringing its capabilities in line with its rivals. While the search index powering this feature was initially unclear, evidence suggests that Brave Search, the search engine maintained by browser developer Brave, is behind the functionality.

The connection between Anthropic and Brave Search was uncovered by software engineer Antonio Zugaldia, who spotted the addition of "Brave Search" to the "subprocessor list" in Anthropic's documentation. This list outlines the partners that process Claude data. Further investigation by British programmer Simon Willison revealed that at least one search query in Claude and Brave returned identical citations, strengthening the link between the two companies. Moreover, Willison discovered that Claude's web search function contains a parameter called "BraveSearchParams."

This partnership is not the first of its kind for Brave Search. In February, Brave announced a collaboration with Mistral, where Mistral's chatbot platform, Le Chat, would utilize Brave's search API for live web results. This trend highlights the growing importance of search functionality in AI-powered chatbot platforms, as users increasingly expect seamless access to web information.

The decision to integrate Brave Search may be strategic, as some AI companies choose to keep their search index partnerships private, possibly for competitive reasons. OpenAI, for instance, has a partnership with Bing, but also uses undisclosed sources to power the search experience in ChatGPT. By partnering with Brave Search, Anthropic may be seeking to differentiate Claude from its competitors while maintaining a level of transparency.

The implications of this partnership extend beyond Anthropic and Brave, as it underscores the evolving landscape of AI-powered chatbots and their reliance on robust search functionality. As chatbots become increasingly prevalent in various industries, the importance of efficient and accurate search capabilities will only continue to grow. It remains to be seen how this partnership will influence the development of Claude and the broader AI chatbot ecosystem.

We have reached out to Anthropic for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.