Claude, the AI that thinks before it speaks.
The thoughtful one — calmer in tone, more careful with facts, and surprisingly good at long writing. The AI you’d actually trust to draft a difficult email.
- Made by Anthropic
- Free tier available
- Best for: writing, research, careful analysis
- Reading time · 8 min
At a glance
- What it is
- A general-purpose AI chatbot like ChatGPT, but built from the ground up to be more cautious, more honest about uncertainty, and better at long-form writing.
- Cost
- Free version is genuinely useful. Claude Pro is £15/month for the smartest model, longer conversations, and priority access during busy periods.
- Where to find it
- claude.ai on any browser, or the free app on iPhone / Android.
- Privacy
- Anthropic does not use your conversations to train future models by default — a meaningful difference from ChatGPT.
- Walter’s take
- The “Volvo” of AI — quietly excellent, beautifully made, and a touch boring in the best possible way.
Section 01What is it, really?
Claude is the AI assistant made by Anthropic — a company founded by former OpenAI researchers who wanted to build something a bit more careful. Like ChatGPT, you type a question into a chat window and a written answer appears. The interface is almost identical. The personality, however, is not.
Where ChatGPT is a fast-talking, eager-to-please all-rounder, Claude is the colleague who pauses before answering. It’s noticeably more willing to say “I don’t know”, less likely to invent fake citations, and better at admitting when a question is more complicated than it first appears. For writing tasks — emails, articles, summaries — many people quietly prefer it.
Section 02What it’s genuinely good at — and not
Genuinely useful for
- Drafting long, thoughtful writing — letters, articles, eulogies
- Editing your own writing for clarity without losing your voice
- Summarising long documents (it handles huge ones in one go)
- Analysing tone — “is this email too sharp?”
- Reading and explaining PDFs, contracts, manuals
- Research where you need it to flag uncertainty
Don’t trust it with
- Generating images — it can’t (you’ll need ChatGPT or Gemini)
- Real-time information — no live web search in the free version
- Recent news (knowledge cutoff applies)
- Maths beyond simple sums (use a calculator)
- Medical, legal or financial decisions you’ll act on
- Anything where you need confident certainty rather than considered nuance
Section 03How to get started in five minutes
- Go to claude.aiType the address into your browser. No app needed for the basic version.
- Click “Sign up”Use a Google account, an email, or an Apple sign-in. The process takes about 30 seconds.
- Try uploading a documentClick the paperclip and upload a PDF, Word doc or photo. Ask Claude “summarise this in 200 words” — this is where it shines.
- Ask it to “think step by step”For anything complex, those four words noticeably improve the answer. Claude responds well to being told how to think.
- Don’t pay until you’ve used the free version for two weeksThe free tier is generous. Pro is worth it only if you hit the daily limits regularly.
Section 04A prompt to try right now
Claude is brilliant at editing your own writing without flattening your voice. Try this on any email, letter or article you’ve drafted:
[paste your writing here]
Claude takes long instructions seriously — much more so than ChatGPT. The longer and more specific your prompt, the better the answer. Don’t be afraid to write a paragraph of context before your question.
Section 05Things to watch out for
Claude is more cautious than ChatGPT — it sometimes declines requests that other AIs would happily answer (anything that smells like medical advice, legal advice, or controversial opinion). Usually a feature, occasionally an annoyance.
Claude can read images you upload, but it can’t create them. If you want AI-generated pictures, you need ChatGPT or Gemini for that part of the job.
Like all chatbots, Claude’s knowledge stops at a certain date. The free version has no live web search, so for current events use a real source.
Section 06The honest cost breakdown
Free tier: Several hours of conversation per day with the standard model. File uploads included. Genuinely enough for most people, most days.
Claude Pro (£15/month): The smartest model (Claude Opus), 5× the daily usage limits, priority access at busy times, and projects that remember context across conversations.
Claude Max (£80–£160/month): For heavy users — researchers, writers, anyone using AI for hours every day. Probably overkill for everyday life.
The thinking person’s AI. The one I keep coming back to for serious writing.
If ChatGPT is the friendly all-rounder, Claude is the careful editor sitting at the back of the room. If you write for a living, or just want an AI that hallucinates less and admits uncertainty more, this is the one. The privacy stance alone is worth the switch.
Google Gemini, the AI in your pocket
Over50TechTips
by Walter Ledger
Technology explained by someone who remembers when ‘wireless’ meant a really long cord.