Google-backed Anthropic releases Claude chatbot across Europe

Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, which is backed by Alphabet’s Google and Amazon.com, said it would release its generative AI chatbot Claude across Europe on Tuesday.

Why it’s important

Anthropic’s Claude is a direct competitor to Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the chatbot that broke records when it reached 100 million monthly active users just two months after launch.

While the Claude chatbot was already freely available online in a number of countries, this is the first time it has been made available via the web and iPhones across the European Union, as well as a handful of non-EU countries in Europe such as Switzerland and Iceland.