Technologies

What’s New in Anthropic’s Claude 4 Gen AI Models?

Anthropic said it’s using extra safety precautions with its heavy duty Claude 4 Opus model.

The latest versions of Anthropic’s Claude generative AI models made their debut Thursday, including a heavier-duty model built specifically for coding and complex tasks.

Anthropic launched the new Claude 4 Opus and Claude 4 Sonnet models during its Code with Claude developer conference and executives said the new tools mark a significant step forward in terms of reasoning and deep thinking skills.

The company launched the prior model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, in February. Since then, competing AI developers have also upped their game. OpenAI released GPT-4.1 in April, with an emphasis on an expanded context window, along with the new o3 reasoning model family. Google followed in early May with an updated version of Gemini 2.5 Pro that it said is better at coding.

Claude 4 Opus is a larger, more resource-intensive model built to handle particularly difficult challenges. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said test users have seen it quickly handle tasks that might have taken a person several hours to complete.

«In many ways, as we’re often finding with large models, the benchmarks don’t fully do justice to it,» he said during the keynote event.

Claude 4 Sonnet is a leaner model, with improvements built on Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet model. The 3.7 model often had problems with overeagerness and sometimes did more than the person asked it to do, Amodei said. While it’s a less resource-intensive model, it still performs well, he said.

«It actually does just as well as Opus on some of the coding benchmarks, but I think it’s leaner and more narrowly focused,» Amodei said.

Anthropic said the models have a new capability, still being beta tested, in which they can use tools like web searches while engaged in extended reasoning. The models can alternate between reasoning and using tools to get better responses to complex queries.

The models offer near-instant response modes and extended thinking modes.

All of the paid plans offer Opus and Sonnet models, while the free plan just has the Sonnet model.

The new models show Anthropic’s focus on building strong coding models, said Arun Chandrasekaran, a distinguished vice president, analyst at Gartner. «Anthropic’s Claude models have established strong leadership in the software engineering domain and the latest Claude 4 release extends that leadership.»

Anthropic triggers safety protocols with new Claude models

In launching the Claude Opus 4 model, Anthropic said it was taking increased safety precautions to reduce the risk of Claude being misused. In a blog post, the company said it hasn’t determined whether the model actually requires the protections of its ASL-3 standard but it is doing so as a precaution.

The safety precautions are specifically designed to prevent Claude from helping with developing chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. Anthropic said it limited attacks known as universal jailbreaks that let attackers get around existing protocols. «We will continue to evaluate Claude Opus 4’s CBRN capabilities,» Anthropic’s blog post said. «If we conclude that Claude Opus 4 has not surpassed the relevant Capability Threshold, then we may remove or adjust the ASL-3 protections.»

Chandrasekaran said the implementation of safety standards is worth noting. «This includes enhanced cybersecurity measures and prompt classifiers to mitigate risks associated with powerful AI systems,» he said. The new models show the company’s focus on balancing new technology with safety, he said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 20, #574

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 20 No. 574.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition included A’s, B’s and C’s as clues, which made the grid look kind of funny. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Golden State sports.

Green group hint: Beantown teams.

Blue group hint: Do you believe in miracles?

Purple group hint: Keep running.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: California baseball teams.

Green group: Shortened nicknames for Boston teams.

Blue group: Associated with the Miracle on Ice.

Purple group: World marathon majors.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is California baseball teams. The four answers are A’s, Angels, Giants and Padres.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is shortened nicknames for Boston teams. The four answers are B’s, C’s, Pats and Sox.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with the Miracle on Ice. The four answers are 1980, Brooks, hockey and Lake Placid.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is world marathon majors. The four answers are Berlin, Boston, Chicago and Tokyo.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, April 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 20

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I found this puzzle a nice, easy one, Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: All-caps reply to a spammy political text
Answer: STOP

5A clue: Number of seasons that «Seinfeld» and «The Office» each ran
Answer: NINE

6A clue: Wild party, informally
Answer: RAGER

7A clue: Swedish furniture giant
Answer: IKEA

8A clue: Long-lasting salon treatment
Answer: PERM

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Chinese zodiac animal
Answer: SNAKE

2D clue: Chinese zodiac animal
Answer: TIGER

3D clue: Hour following midnight
Answer: ONEAM

4D clue: The «p» of m.p.h.
Answer: PER

6D clue: Tombstone letters
Answer: RIP

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 20, #1766

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for April 20, No. 1,766.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle has a couple of rare letters in it. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.