Anthropic's Claude is now an AI-powered app builder, thanks to its upgraded Artifacts feature. This innovative tool allows users to create, host, and share AI applications directly from text prompts, opening up app development to individuals without programming skills.

Democratizing App Creation

The upgraded Claude with Artifacts democratizes application creation, moving beyond simple conversational tasks to enabling the development of fully functional applications with ease. Users can now build functional tools like data analyzers, flashcard generators, or study aids by simply describing their ideas. Claude handles the coding behind the scenes, making app development accessible to a broader audience. This shift mirrors the evolution of web development, where tools like Wix and Squarespace transformed website creation into an accessible activity for non-developers.

Key Features and Functionality

Artifacts have a dedicated workspace accessible from the Claude app sidebar. This space showcases a curated selection of projects made by other users, providing inspiration and a starting point for new creations. Creating an Artifact involves typing a prompt, and Claude generates the necessary code. The platform allows users to view and engage with the results within the application. Claude's AI capabilities can be embedded into the creations, making the apps independently smart and responsive. For instance, instead of asking Claude to create a set of flashcards, users can prompt it to make a flashcard app.

Sharing and Collaboration

Anthropic is making it easier to share Artifacts, enhancing the collaborative aspect of the platform. All users, including those with free accounts, can share their projects with others for free, without associated API costs. To access someone else's Artifact, all that's needed is a Claude account. This feature allows creators to focus on building and sharing their apps without worrying about infrastructure or costs.

Benefits for Product Managers and Beyond

Claude's new AI-powered Artifacts feature bridges the gap by embedding Claude's intelligence directly into applications, creating truly adaptive tools that can analyze user input, provide personalized recommendations, and respond contextually to different situations.

Limitations

It's important to note that the feature still has some limitations. For now, it does not connect to external services, and app data is not saved once it is closed.

Accessibility

The new Artifacts experience is available on both mobile and desktop. To access every feature, a computer is needed; however, on Android and iOS, users can create, view, interact with, and customize Artifacts. The feature is part of a beta rollout and is available to all Claude users, including those on the free tier.

With this update, Claude transforms from a chat assistant into a creative tool for building AI-powered applications.