What is Claude 2? How to access this ChatGPT competitor.

It's a decent alternative, and it's easy to use.
 By 
Cecily Mauran
 on 
Claude AI chatbot landing page
How do you do, Claude? Credit: Anthropic

Anthropic's Claude 2, a competitor to ChatGPT, is now available to the public.

Anthropic is founded by former senior members of the OpenAI team Daniela and Dario Amodei. The startup purports to be a more ethically-driven company that makes generative AI safe and "steerable," according to its website. Notably, it was reported in February that Google had invested in the AI startup. The large language model is the second version of Claude, which was previously only available to businesses.

Unlike Anthropic's Claude, Claude 2 is available via a public-facing beta site (as well as an API). According to the announcement, Claude 2 scored 76.5 percent on the multiple choice section of the Bar exam and in the 90th percentile on the reading and writing portion of the GRE. Its coding skills have improved from its predecessor scoring 71.2 percent on a Python coding test compared to Claude's 56 percent.


You May Also Like

How to access Claude 2

If you're in the US or UK, go to the Claude 2 page on Anthropic's website, and you can sign up for free. Just click "Talk to Claude," and you'll be prompted to provide an email address. After you confirm the address you enter, you'll be ready to go.

Is Claude 2 as good as ChatGPT?

It's still early, but for most purposes, Claude 2 is a decent alternative to ChatGPT performance-wise. That said, it seems to be slightly less nuanced when explaining, for instance, the philosophy of the right against self-incrimination using the Socratic method (as in a test by Mashable's Mike Pearl).

Claude 2's response

Claude 2's response to the right against self-incrimination using the Socratic method
Claude 2's response to a prompt explaining the right against self-incrimination using the Socratic method, was pretty decent. Credit: Anthropic

ChatGPT's response

ChatGPT's response to the right against self-incrimination using the Socratic method
But ChatGPT's response was more thorough and had more dialog. Credit: OpenAI

Compared to the test scores of GPT-4, which powers the flagship version of ChatGPT, Claude 2 is comparable albeit slightly lower. But Anthropic seeks to set itself apart from OpenAI by being a more responsible and ethical alternative. "We have an internal red-teaming evaluation that scores our models on a large representative set of harmful prompts, using an automated test while we also regularly check the results manually," said the announcement. This is to ensure that Claude 2 is less susceptible to jailbreaks or nefarious uses.

Mashable Image
Cecily Mauran
Tech Reporter

Cecily is a tech reporter at Mashable who covers AI, Apple, and emerging tech trends. Before getting her master's degree at Columbia Journalism School, she spent several years working with startups and social impact businesses for Unreasonable Group and B Lab. Before that, she co-founded a startup consulting business for emerging entrepreneurial hubs in South America, Europe, and Asia. You can find her on X at @cecily_mauran.

Mashable Potato

Recommended For You
Anthropic's Claude overtakes ChatGPT in App Store
By Jack Dawes
In this photo illustration, the logo of Anthropic's AI...

Anthropic releases Claude Sonnet 4.6: Benchmark performance, how to try it
Claude logo


Google releases Gemini 3.1 Pro: Benchmark performance, how to try it
gemini 3.1 pro banner image from google

Get lifetime access to ChatGPT, Gemini, and more for just $99.99
PC screens on desk

Trending on Mashable
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 3, 2026
Connections game on a smartphone

Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 3, 2026
Wordle game on a smartphone

What's new to streaming this week? (April 3, 2026)
A composite of images from film and TV streaming this week.


NYT Strands hints, answers for April 3, 2026
A game being played on a smartphone.
The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
These newsletters may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. By clicking Subscribe, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!