What I Read This Week (April 20, 2025)
Claude takes research to new places
Summary: Anthropic launched two updates for Claude: a Research feature enabling agentic web and internal document searching, and Google Workspace integration that connects Gmail, Calendar, and Docs to provide comprehensive work context. The Research feature conducts multiple iterative searches with citations, while Google Workspace integration allows Claude to access emails, documents, and calendar information for more informed assistance.
RR: While I've become a religious Claude user (Projects in particular has become indispensable for my workflow) I'm starting to worry about Anthropic's product velocity. These features, while welcome, feel like catch-up plays rather than innovation. OpenAI's integration suite has been live for months. Even Google's Gemini is pushing deeper workspace integration. The selective regional rollout and beta status suggest Anthropic might be struggling to ship at the pace needed to stay competitive.Claude's underlying model and Projects feature keep me locked in, but I'm starting to eye alternative platforms. The gap between Claude's excellent AI capabilities and its product feature set is widening, and I really don't want to switch platforms but may have to if this continues.