Anthropic Uses Brave for Claude Chatbot Web Search

Claude Now Utilizes Brave Search for Web Access

This week saw Anthropic introduce a web search capability to its AI chatbot, Claude. This enhancement positions Claude competitively alongside other leading AI platforms.

Initially, the underlying search index remained uncertain, with speculation suggesting Anthropic might have built a proprietary system.

Evidence Points to Brave Search

However, recent findings indicate that Brave Search, the search engine developed by the Brave browser company, is the likely provider.

Software engineer Antonio Zugaldia observed that Anthropic added “Brave Search” to its documentation’s list of subprocessors. This list details partners involved in processing Claude user data.

Further corroboration came from British programmer Simon Willison, who noted identical citations returned by both Claude and Brave Search for at least one query.

Willison also discovered the presence of a parameter labeled “BraveSearchParams” within Claude’s web search function.

We have contacted Anthropic for confirmation and will provide an update should a response be received.

Brave Search Powers Multiple Chatbots

Brave Search already supports the search functionality of another chatbot platform: Mistral’s Le Chat.

In February, Brave and Mistral jointly announced that Le Chat would integrate Brave Search’s API to deliver current web results.

Search Partnerships Often Remain Confidential

Many AI companies maintain secrecy regarding their search index partnerships, potentially due to competitive considerations.

For example, OpenAI collaborates with Bing but also utilizes other undisclosed sources to enhance the search experience within ChatGPT.

This multi-source approach allows for a more comprehensive and robust search capability.