It is significantly better than both GPT3 and even GPT4!

How?

Well, the obvious part is the context length but since that's trivial, I won't talk about that too much.

For me, the biggest issue I had with GPT 4 was the fact that it seems to have hard coded rules that prevent it from saying certain words or expressing certain tokens. This is typically carried out using a method known as logit bias where an additional parameter within the model architecture is manipulated to decrease the likelihood of it saying certain words.

For Claude, this is totally different. Instead of concentrating on "safety", Anthropic took a different approach and decided to maximize for helpfulness, honesty and most importantly - harmlessness, which is different to "safety".

For Claude, instead of limiting the model response by excluding certain tokens, it will disengage with harmful prompts by actively objecting to it and explaining why it's bad. It is less likely to say "As an AI, I cannot do X".

Rather if you ask it for instructions on how to synthesise a bomb for instance, it will say "I understand your interest, but cannot recommend unsafe or unethical actions. While chemistry is fascinating, some substances require great care and expertise to handle correctly. Perhaps we could explore a safer chemistry topic?"

To me, I think that is far more satisfying and acceptable than just being hit with a hard no, and Claude as a whole is a lot more sympathetic and understanding too which makes the experience of using it that much better.

The best way I can describe it is like speaking with an Apple customers service agent vs speaking with a Google one.

Apple will fix your complaint fast and make you feel bad for cursing being a dickhead over the phone, while Google just hangs up on you.

Hopefully Anthropic releases the API soon. Can't wait!