Anthropic announced a suite of workplace tools on Tuesday, headlined by Claude Meetings, which brings its AI assistant into video calls to draft plans and start on tasks while participants are still talking. The move extends the company's reach beyond coding and enterprise software to other knowledge workers, where it will compete with OpenAI, Microsoft, Google and Meta.
The announcements, made at an event in San Francisco, come just a few weeks after OpenAI unveiled workplace tools that let users collaborate with ChatGPT on tasks such as visualising company information and creating presentations. Meta is also entering the race with its Muse AI agent, which can build mini-apps on the fly to help users complete tasks. Anthropic has been known for enterprise and coding tools, and the new suite targets knowledge workers who spend their time in meetings, brainstorming and analysing metrics.
Claude Meetings lets teams add Claude to a video call as a visible participant. The assistant follows the conversation, drafts the plan being discussed, maps timelines on a whiteboard, answers questions in the meeting chat and retrieves information from connected work apps, such as last year's figures. When the call ends, meeting notes, action items and other material appear in claude.ai. Anthropic says the feature lets teams turn discussions into actions in real time instead of after everyone hangs up. Claude identifies itself as a meeting participant, posts a notice in the chat, and will not join calls with external guests unless an administrator authorises it, automatically leaving if an external guest joins. The beta is available on Team and Enterprise plans and works with Google Meet at launch, with support for additional plans expected to follow.
Anthropic also launched Claude Whiteboards, a collaborative board where teams talk through a plan and Claude converts it into an organised visual workspace with timelines and deadlines. Previously, many people who brainstormed with Claude would have to copy and paste results elsewhere to share them; now they can work with the assistant on the same board in real time, and Claude can turn the finished board into a document or slide deck. Whiteboards also work inside Claude Meetings, and are available in beta on paid plans across web, desktop and mobile.
Claude Sheets lets teams create and collaboratively edit spreadsheets with Claude. Teams can ask for a campaign tracker or hiring budget and Claude produces a working spreadsheet, handling the initial setup while teams can continue refining and updating the same spreadsheet. Claude also makes edits directly in cells alongside the team, outlining each change. The spreadsheets support multiple tabs, formulas, formatting and dropdown menus. Sheets is also available in beta on paid plans on web, desktop and mobile.
The company also made Claude Data, formerly Claude Dashboards, generally available. It connects to systems such as data warehouses and CRMs, answering questions with dashboards, written data stories or narrated videos. Anthropic separately announced interactive connectors that open full versions of apps like Adobe, Atlassian and HubSpot inside Claude, letting teams work in those apps alongside their Claude conversations.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Anthropic is moving from coding and enterprise tools into the mainstream office market, putting it in direct competition with Microsoft and Google's bundled productivity suites and with OpenAI's ChatGPT workplace tools.
- Claude Meetings acts on conversations in real time, which could shift follow-up work such as notes, plans and action items from after the call to during it.
- The rapid sequence of releases, with OpenAI's workplace tools weeks ago and Meta's Muse agent, signals an escalating AI office-productivity war.
Background
Anthropic's Claude assistant has been known for enterprise and coding use, with its Claude Code product drawing its own hype cycle earlier this year. The new products extend the same assistant to non-technical workers: meeting attendees, brainstormers, spreadsheet users and analysts. The tools are launching in beta, apart from Claude Data, formerly Claude Dashboards, which is now generally available.
What to Watch
- Whether Claude Meetings expands beyond Google Meet to additional video platforms, which Anthropic said it expects to follow.
- How OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and Google respond with their own workplace features in the coming months.
- Whether teams on paid plans adopt Whiteboards and Sheets in daily workflows, and how Claude Data fares against existing analytics tools.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 2 sources: 12 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedAnthropic unveiled Claude Meetings, Claude Whiteboards and Claude Sheets as office-software tools.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “The company also unveiled Claude Whiteboards and Claude Sheets.”
- SupportedClaude joins video calls and works on collaborative boards.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “With Claude Meetings, teams can add Claude to a video call as a visible participant.”
- SupportedAI labs are competing to build workplace suites.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “as both companies compete to turn their products into office suites of sorts to take on Microsoft and Google. Meta is also joining the competition”
- SupportedAnthropic announced the tools on Tuesday at an event in San Francisco.The Verge: “At an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Anthropic unveiled new tools”
- SupportedAnthropic is expanding beyond coding and enterprise software to reach other knowledge workers.The Verge: “Anthropic has been known for its focus on enterprise and coding tools”
- SupportedThe new suite puts Anthropic in competition with OpenAI, Microsoft, Google and Meta.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “as both companies compete to turn their products into office suites of sorts to take on Microsoft and Google. Meta is also joining the competition”
- SupportedOpenAI unveiled workplace tools a few weeks before Anthropic’s announcement.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “The launch of Anthropic’s new productivity-focused features comes just a few weeks after OpenAI unveiled a series of workplace tools”
- SupportedClaude Meetings follows calls and works on tasks in real time, including drafting plans and mapping timelines.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “As participants talk, it can draft the plan being discussed, map out a timeline on a whiteboard”
- SupportedClaude will not join a call with external guests without administrator authorization and will leave if an external guest joins.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “It won’t join calls with external guests unless authorized by an admin, and will automatically leave if an external guest joins.”
- SupportedClaude Meetings is in beta on Team and Enterprise plans and initially works with Google Meet.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Claude Meetings is launching in beta on Team and Enterprise plans. At launch, it works with Google Meet”
- SupportedClaude Whiteboards turns teams’ plans into visual workspaces and can convert boards into documents or slide decks.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “a collaborative board where teams can talk through a plan and have Claude turn it into an organized visual workspace”
- SupportedClaude Sheets lets teams create and collaboratively edit spreadsheets, including campaign trackers or hiring budgets.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Claude Sheets, which lets teams create and collaboratively edit spreadsheets with Claude. A team can ask it to build a campaign tracker or hiring budget”
