Anthropic presents Claude Opus 4.5: Better than Google? Excel, Code & Agents – PC control included

Setting a new standard for autonomous agents and complex tasks: Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.5

Just one week after the much-anticipated launch of Google's Gemini 3, the US AI lab Anthropic has further intensified competition in the premium segment of large language models (LLMs) with the introduction of Claude Opus 4.5. As the most powerful member of the Claude family, Opus 4.5 positions itself above the speed-optimized model "Sonnet" and is specifically aimed at professional users, developers, and companies that demand the highest levels of logic, precision, and task autonomy.

Claude Opus 4.5 is more than just an update for improved text generation. With this model, Anthropic focuses on handling complex, multi-stage workflows – so-called "long-running agents." This capability enables the AI ​​not only to answer individual questions, but also to consistently process entire projects, such as software refactoring, in-depth market research, or extensive data analysis in Excel, over extended periods. A key unique selling point is its "computer-use" functionality: The model can actively control desktop applications via APIs and tools, interact with websites in the browser, and thus act as a digital assistant within existing software ecosystems.

In addition to its technical performance in benchmarks – where it sets new bests, particularly in programming – Anthropic also addresses critical security concerns. With improved protection mechanisms against prompt injection attacks and other forms of abuse, its use in sensitive enterprise environments is designed to be more secure. Available via established cloud platforms and directly through Anthropic's interfaces, Claude Opus 4.5 aims to bridge the gap between simple knowledge retrieval and proactive process automation.

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What is Claude Opus 4.5 and why is this model currently relevant?

Claude Opus 4.5 is the new flagship model from the US company Anthropic in the field of large language models (LLMs). It was introduced just one week after Google's Gemini 3 and positions itself as a particularly powerful solution for programming, autonomous agents, computer control, and demanding office tasks such as spreadsheets, deep research, and presentations.

General information about the Claude Opus 4.5 model

How does Claude Opus 4.5 fit into the Anthropic model family?

Claude Opus 4.5 belongs to the Claude 4.5 family and represents the most powerful, but also the most resource-intensive, model within it. In the hierarchy, it ranks above faster, but lighter models like Claude Sonnet 4.5, which are designed for cost- and latency-optimized scenarios.

When was Claude Opus 4.5 officially launched?

Claude Opus 4.5 was released approximately two months after the launch of Claude Sonnet 4.5. Its introduction came shortly after the launch of Google's Gemini 3, highlighting the direct competition in the premium segment of AI speech models.

How does Anthropic himself describe the ambition of Claude Opus 4.5?

Anthropic describes Claude Opus 4.5 as "the world's most powerful model for programming, autonomous agents, and computer control." Furthermore, the company emphasizes that the model performs significantly better than its predecessor in everyday knowledge and office tasks such as spreadsheet editing, research, and presentation creation.

Availability and integration

Through which channels is Claude Opus 4.5 available?

Claude Opus 4.5 is accessible via the official Anthropic apps, the application programming interface (API), and all three major cloud providers. This allows it to be integrated into both internal enterprise applications and existing cloud infrastructures.

What does availability on the major cloud platforms actually mean for businesses?

Companies can integrate Claude Opus 4.5 directly into their existing cloud architecture and use it, for example, via managed AI services, serverless capabilities, or container orchestration. This simplifies the rollout of AI applications into existing workflows without having to build entirely new infrastructure.

Are there any special integrations beyond the standard API?

In addition to the classic text API, Anthropic provides further integration options, such as "computer-use" capabilities and tools specifically designed for desktop and browser automation. This allows Claude Opus 4.5 not only to process text, but also to control applications and interact with user interfaces.

Use in office tasks and daily work

What advantages does Claude Opus 4.5 offer for spreadsheets?

Claude Opus 4.5 was specifically optimized to understand, structure, and edit complex spreadsheets. It can, for example, analyze formulas, check data ranges, detect errors in calculations, and automatically design reports and pivot tables.

How does the model support research?

For deep research scenarios, Claude Opus 4.5 is designed to be better able to structure large amounts of text, filter out relevant information, and transform it into logically coherent chains of reasoning. It is therefore suitable for analysts, research departments, and R&D teams that need to systematically process complex topics.

What role does Claude Opus 4.5 play in the creation of presentations?

The model can assist in designing slide structures, formulating speaker notes, and logically structuring presentations. For users, this means an acceleration of preparatory tasks, from drafting the agenda to developing key messages.

Integration of Claude Opus 4.5 into Excel

How exactly can Claude Opus 4.5 be used in Excel?

With Claude Opus 4.5, Anthropic offers features that allow the model to be directly integrated into spreadsheets, for example via add-ins or tooling in the Claude apps. This enables the model to read and interpret data in Excel and generate transformations, analyses, or reports based on user specifications.

What types of tasks are particularly suitable for Excel?

Claude Opus 4.5 is particularly suitable for repetitive or complex tasks such as creating reports, generating formula sets, checking the plausibility and consistency of data, and preparing raw data into analyzable tables. It can also link text descriptions and numerical tables to, for example, generate management summaries directly from numbers.

What role do longer, automated processes play when working with Excel?

Anthropic emphasizes that Claude Opus 4.5 supports "longer-running agents." In Excel contexts, this allows for the automation of multi-stage workflows, such as data import, cleansing, calculation, and subsequent documentation of the results in a report, without requiring each individual action to be initiated manually.

New tools in Claude Code and the Claude apps

What is Claude Code and how does it relate to Claude Opus 4.5?

Claude Code is a specialized programming tool based on the Claude models that supports developers in software development. With Claude Opus 4.5, Claude Code gains additional features specifically designed for long-running agents, complex refactoring, and interaction with development environments.

What new tools have been introduced in the Claude Code environment?

Anthropic has integrated new tools that enable longer, autonomous coding tasks, such as analyzing entire codebases, incrementally rebuilding modules, and conducting multi-stage debugging sessions. It also includes features that allow the model to interact directly with files, terminals, or build systems.

How do users of the regular Claude apps benefit from these new features?

Users of the Claude apps gain access to agent functions that extend beyond short, individual sessions. For example, longer projects with recurring tasks can be managed by an agent who remembers previous steps, utilizes interim results, and continuously carries out processes such as research, documentation, or reporting.

Longer-term agents

What does Anthropic mean by "long-running agents"?

Long-running agents are AI instances that don't just react to a single input, but work on a project or process over an extended period. They retain contextual information across many steps and interactions, enabling them to break down complex tasks into sub-steps and process them systematically.

What are some practical examples of the use of such agents?

Examples include extensive software refactoring, long-term research using multiple sources, continuous market monitoring, or data-intensive reports that are updated at regular intervals. The agent can handle recurring tasks such as retrieving, analyzing, comparing, and providing consolidated data.

What advantages do longer-running agents offer compared to classic single sessions?

The most important advantage lies in the ability to remain consistent across numerous interactions and to build upon previous work steps. This reduces the need to repeatedly enter the same information and creates a kind of "project memory," leading to greater efficiency and improved result quality.

Use in Chrome and on the desktop

How can Claude Opus 4.5 be used in Chrome?

Claude Opus 4.5 can be used in the Chrome browser via special tools and extensions to analyze websites, fill out input forms, or extract information. This also includes interaction with web-based applications, such as for research, data collection, or workflow automation.

What possibilities does the model offer on the desktop?

On the desktop, Claude Opus 4.5 can use integrated tools to control applications, organize files, automate recurring processes, and act as an assistant for office tasks. This also includes the ability to use multiple programs sequentially or simultaneously to implement complex multi-app workflows.

What significance do these skills have for everyday work?

The combination of browser and desktop controls makes it possible to partially or fully automate typical knowledge and office work that was previously done manually. This can significantly speed up tasks such as processing forms, creating reports, or transferring data between different systems.

Focus: Programming and coding performance

Why does Anthropic particularly emphasize the programming achievement of Claude Opus 4.5?

Programming is considered a demanding testing ground for LLMs, as it requires precise logic, long-term consistency, and the handling of complex dependencies. Anthropic highlights Claude Opus 4.5 as the "world's most powerful programming model" to demonstrate its exceptional ability to meet these requirements.

How does Claude Opus 4.5 perform in standardized benchmarks?

In common benchmarks like SWE-bench, Claude Opus 4.5 achieves very high accuracy scores and, according to published evaluations, outperforms Gemini 3 Pro and OpenAI GPT-5.1 in certain categories of automated bug fixing and coding tasks. This underscores the model's claim as a powerful tool for professional software development.

What role do memory and context management play in coding tasks?

For large codebases, it is crucial that a model retains relevant information over extended interactions, such as a project's structure, defined interfaces, or existing architectural decisions. According to external analyses, Claude Opus 4.5 has been improved by significantly enhancing its "working memory" and context management to consistently support complex software projects across many iterations.

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Autonomous agents and computer control

What is meant by "computer control" in the context of Claude Opus 4.5?

Anthropic defines computer control as the model's ability not only to process text, but also to actively operate applications and perform actions on a computer. This includes navigating user interfaces, triggering commands, filling out forms, or configuring program settings.

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How are autonomous agents and computer control related?

Autonomous agents use computer control to independently execute targeted processes. Instead of simply suggesting text, an agent using Claude Opus 4.5 can, for example, perform a series of tasks in one software application, open files, analyze content, and document the results in another application.

What advantages does this offer in professional environments?

In companies, this combination makes it possible to automate routine processes without complex, customer-specific programming. Workflows that previously relied on macros, scripts, or manual interaction can now be handled by a flexible, text-driven agent that can adapt to changing requirements.

Security aspect: Handling malicious use cases

Why does Anthropic emphasize the safety of its agents specifically in Claude Opus 4.5?

The ability to interact directly with applications and data increases the risk that agents could be misused for malicious purposes, such as data exfiltration or system manipulation. Anthropic explicitly addresses this risk and highlights that Claude Opus 4.5 has received additional security mechanisms to make misuse more difficult.

What kind of malicious use cases are the focus?

The focus is on scenarios such as attempts to induce the model to perform actions that violate guidelines, such as circumventing access restrictions, stealing sensitive data, or supporting specific attacks on technical systems. Claude Opus 4.5 is designed to better detect and reject such requests.

Is Claude Opus 4.5 completely protected against misuse?

Anthropic explicitly emphasizes that, despite all improvements, the model is not completely immune to misuse or manipulation. The security measures reduce the risk and make attacks more difficult, but cannot eliminate every possible scenario, so responsible use and additional organizational safeguards remain necessary.

Prompt injection attacks

What is a prompt injection attack?

Prompt injection is an attack technique in which malicious instructions are hidden within data sources from which the model obtains information. When a low-level management (LLM) processes this data, the hidden instructions may attempt to override the original security policies, for example, by causing the model to disclose confidential information or perform unintended actions.

How does Claude Opus 4.5 react to prompt injection attempts?

According to Anthropic, Claude Opus 4.5 is more resistant to prompt injection than other top-tier models. It is said to be better at distinguishing between user instructions, system policies, and embedded third-party instructions, and at ignoring potentially harmful instructions instead of following them.

Does this mean that prompt injection is no longer a problem with Claude Opus 4.5?

No, the developers admit that Claude Opus 4.5 is not completely immune to prompt injection. Resilience has been increased, but absolute security cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, technical safeguards in prompting and the architecture of AI systems must continue to be combined with organizational and legal frameworks.

Usage limits and token caps

What are “opus-specific upper limits” and what has changed about them?

Opus-specific limits refer to restrictions on how many requests or tokens users can process with the Claude Opus model within a given timeframe. Anthropic has removed these specific restrictions for users with access to Claude Opus 4.5 to allow for more intensive use.

What adjustments are available for Max and Team Premium users?

For Max and Team Premium users, the general usage limits have been increased. The goal is for them to receive roughly the same amount of available tokens per day with Claude Opus 4.5 as they previously had with Claude Sonnet, even though Opus is considered a higher-value model.

Why is Anthropic adjusting the limits instead of leaving them unchanged?

Anthropic wants to ensure that Opus 4.5 is not just a theoretically powerful model, but one that can actually be used in daily work. The increased limits are intended to prevent users from being hindered by overly restrictive limitations that would prevent them from integrating the model into their routine processes.

Comparison to Google's Gemini 3

How does Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5 compare to Google's Gemini 3?

Anthropic claims that Claude Opus 4.5 outperforms Google's Gemini 3 in various programming categories. This clearly positions the model as an alternative for demanding coding and agent-based applications, while Gemini 3 is better known for its multimodal and visual strengths.

What are the strengths of Claude Opus 4.5 in direct comparison?

Claude Opus 4.5 is particularly valued for deep logical reasoning, agent-like workflows, reliable tool usage, and stable long-term workflows. It thus emphasizes structure, accuracy, and determinism in complex tasks, especially in software development and professional knowledge management.

Which areas does Gemini 3 cover better?

Gemini 3 is considered particularly strong in multimodal scenarios involving images, videos, UI layouts, and dynamic interfaces. It is often preferred where visual creativity, simulations, interactive app generation, and extensive media analysis are paramount, while Claude Opus 4.5 focuses more on analytical depth and reliability in text- and code-based tasks.

Performance in everyday tasks

Which typical everyday tasks benefit from Claude Opus 4.5?

Tasks such as creating and revising documents, summarizing lengthy texts, structuring information, editing tables, and preparing presentations and reports can particularly benefit from this new model. Compared to older generations, it is expected to be more accurate, consistent, and context-sensitive in these areas.

How does the increased performance affect daily use?

In daily use, the increased performance primarily leads to reduced correction work and less manual post-processing. Users can focus more on content evaluation, while the model takes over routine tasks such as outlining, suggesting wording, or data preparation.

Can less tech-savvy users also benefit from Claude Opus 4.5?

Yes, provided the integration is done via user-friendly interfaces, even users without in-depth technical knowledge can benefit from the agent functions and the improved text and spreadsheet processing. It is important that the systems are properly configured and the security mechanisms are correctly implemented.

Cost and efficiency considerations

How does Claude Opus 4.5 compare in terms of cost?

Claude Opus 4.5 is among the more expensive models, particularly in terms of cost per token. The higher price reflects its focus on deep reasoning, complex planning tasks, and demanding coding scenarios where quality and reliability are more important than minimal cost.

When is the use of Claude Opus 4.5 worthwhile despite the higher costs?

The use of a model is particularly worthwhile when the working hours of highly qualified specialists or the consequences of errors are significantly more expensive than the model's use. In such cases, a model that makes fewer serious errors and handles complex tasks better can be economically advantageous despite higher token prices.

Are there scenarios where lighter models make more sense?

For simple chat tasks, short content snippets, or less complex standard queries, lighter models like Sonnet 4.5 or competing products may suffice and be more cost-effective. In such cases, the additional depth of Opus 4.5 offers little added value compared to the higher usage costs.

Target groups and application areas

For which user groups is Claude Opus 4.5 particularly suitable?

This model is particularly well-suited for software developers, data scientists, analysts, research teams, and knowledge workers who handle complex information sets or extensive projects. These groups can especially benefit from the improved reasoning capabilities, agent support, and computer control.

Which industries can benefit from Claude Opus 4.5?

Relevant sectors include IT and software development, financial and management consulting, industry and manufacturing (e.g., for technical documentation and data analysis), research and education, and media and information services. The model can be helpful wherever high information density and complex decision-making processes are involved.

What role does the model play in the context of corporate AI strategies?

In corporate strategies, Claude Opus 4.5 can serve as a central building block for high-quality, agent-based workflows, for example, as the core of an internal "AI Copilot" for development, controlling, reporting, or knowledge management. It can also be combined with lighter models, for instance, by having standard requests processed by less expensive models and only passing complex tasks on to Opus 4.5.

Limits and risks

Where are the limits of Claude Opus 4.5?

Despite its high performance, Claude Opus 4.5 remains a statistical language model that can make errors, produce hallucinations, and misinterpret situations. It is not suitable for making critical decisions without human oversight, particularly in areas with high regulatory requirements or security risks.

In which areas should caution be exercised?

Particular caution is required in legal, medical, financially risky, or safety-critical applications. In these areas, the model should only be used as a support tool, and decisions must always be made by qualified professionals.

What role does the quality of the input data play?

The quality of the results depends heavily on the quality, consistency, and relevance of the inputs. Poor or manipulative data sources can lead to erroneous conclusions, and even good models remain susceptible to biased or incomplete information.

From text to action: The development of modern AI models

What significance does the introduction of Claude Opus 4.5 have for the AI ​​market?

The introduction of Claude Opus 4.5 marks another step in the race for the most powerful AI models, particularly in the areas of programming, agents, and computer control. Together with competing models like Gemini 3 and GPT-5.1, it illustrates that the market is increasingly moving towards specialized strengths and clear differentiation.

In which direction might future developments go?

Future developments are likely to bring, on the one hand, higher levels of security and robustness, particularly against prompt injection and misuse, and on the other hand, even closer integration of multimodal capabilities, tools, and agent functions. At the same time, pricing models are expected to become more differentiated in order to offer various performance levels for different target groups.

What key insight can be derived from Claude's presentation of Opus 4.5?

The key finding is that AI models are evolving from mere text generators into comprehensive work agents that process information, prepare decisions, and increasingly control applications. Claude Opus 4.5 exemplifies this development by combining programming, agent workflows, security, and office automation into a single model.

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