What is AI Web Search?
AI web search lets a chatbot browse the internet in real time to find current information before answering your question. Instead of relying only on its training data (which has a cutoff date), the AI searches the web, reads relevant pages, and synthesizes the results into a single response with source links. This means you get up to date answers about news, prices, events, and recent developments.
Common use cases- Checking current facts: stock prices, weather, sports scores, election results
- Researching recent news or announcements that happened after the AI's training cutoff
- Finding and comparing products, services, or reviews from multiple sources
Step 1: Analyze query
Claude evaluates whether your question needs current information from the web
Step 2: Search Brave
Pulls the top ~10 organic results from Brave Search
Step 3: Evaluate sources
Assesses relevance, authority, and clarity of each result
Step 4: Synthesize and cite
Blends findings into a response with inline clickable citations
Brave Search vs. Google
Brave runs an independent index; approximately 86.7% of cited links mirror Brave's own top results. The index is smaller than Google's, so very niche content may occasionally be missed. However, Brave surfaces independent sources that Google sometimes buries, and its independence from rival AI companies is strategically important for Anthropic.