Anthropic rolls out Claude AI for finance, integrates with Excel to rival Microsoft Copilot

Anthropic is aggressively expanding its AI presence in financial services. It's launching "Claude for Excel" to integrate its AI assistant directly into spreadsheets, crucial for finance professionals. This move aims to compete with Microsoft and OpenAI in the enterprise AI space. Anthropic is also expanding its data partnerships to provide Claude with real-time financial data, creating a competitive advantage. This includes access to market data from major financial information providers. The company is unveiling pre-configured workflows ("Agent Skills") for common financial tasks, automating processes. These skills are designed to streamline tasks for financial analysts. Anthropic is already seeing productivity gains with key clients like Norges Bank Investment Management and AIG. However, AI deployment in finance faces regulatory uncertainty, as oversight is evolving. This situation presents both opportunities and risks for AI adoption in the financial sector. Anthropic emphasizes the importance of human oversight and transparency of its AI. The company aims to build trust through the detailed explanation of AI actions, specifically the “black box” problem.