Anthropic Expands Claude's Workplace Arsenal to Rival Google and Microsoft: What Its New AI Tools Can Do Differently

Anthropic has expanded Claude’s capabilities beyond chatbot conversations with AI-powered spreadsheets, meeting assistants, collaborative whiteboards and deeper integrations designed to take on Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google’s and Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) workplace productivity ecosystems.

Claude Sheets Takes on Excel and Google Sheets

At an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Anthropic unveiled Claude Sheets, an AI-powered spreadsheet tool that can generate and edit files, create multiple tabs, insert formulas and apply formatting.

The tool supports real-time collaboration, allowing coworkers with editing access to work on spreadsheets alongside Claude. It also outlines changes made by the AI so users can track its edits.

Users can export files to Microsoft Excel’s XLSX format or CSV. Anthropic also said users can continue working with partner tools such as Airtable, Asana, monday.com and Smartsheet. Claude Sheets is available in beta to paid subscribers across web, desktop and mobile.

Claude Meetings and Whiteboards Target Workplace Collaboration

Anthropic also introduced Claude Meetings, an AI meeting assistant that joins Google Meet calls to take notes, capture decisions and identify action items. Users can subsequently ask Claude questions about discussions and assigned tasks.

Claude identifies itself as a meeting participant and notifies attendees through the meeting chat. It will not join calls with external guests unless an administrator permits it.

The feature is currently limited to Team and Enterprise customers.

Meanwhile, Claude Whiteboards offers collaborative brainstorming capabilities, organizing team contributions by theme and generating individual action items.

It can also work alongside Claude Meetings to turn discussions into organized ideas and tasks. Whiteboards is available in beta to all paid Claude users.

Claude Data and Expanded App Integrations

Anthropic is also renaming Claude Dashboards to Claude Data and beginning its rollout to all paid users.

The tool connects to company customer relationship management systems, allowing employees to ask questions about business data without manually navigating dashboards.

Separately, Anthropic is upgrading Claude’s plugin capabilities. The company says its Marketplace already offers more than 9,000 connectors, but the latest update allows Claude to open and interact with full applications within its interface.

The rollout begins with select partners, including Adobe, Atlassian and HubSpot.

How Claude Compares With Google and Microsoft

Unlike Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, which offer established productivity ecosystems, Claude is betting on continuity across workplace tasks.

Its tools can carry context from brainstorming sessions into project trackers, spreadsheets and dashboards, reducing manual handoffs.

However, Microsoft Excel remains stronger for advanced spreadsheet functions, while Google Sheets excels at real-time collaboration.

Similarly, Microsoft Power BI and Google’s Looker offer more mature enterprise analytics capabilities. Claude’s advantage lies in AI-led creation and connecting workflows, rather than outright replacing established workplace software.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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