Anthropic claims half of its agent tool calls are to do with software engineering

Claude on a smartphone. — (Image credit: Getty Images/Smith Collection/Gado)

Claude is used far more by developers than customer services, sales, finance or ecommerce
It's now working autonomously more than it ever did, including complex tasks
Claude clarifies details more than humans interrupt it

Anthropic has revealed around half of all Public API tool calls come from software engineering, with other sectors such as customer service, sales, finance and ecommerce only accounting for a few percentage points each.

Alongside this, Claude Code was found to be working autonomously for longer than ever before, now at over 45 minutes compared with under 25 minutes just three months ago.

OpenAI says the increase in autonomy doesn't just relate to its latest, high-performance models, suggesting a broader shift to agentic AI rather than trials of its newer models.

Agentic AI is here, and it's most common in coding

In a new blog post, OpenAI outlined how users are starting to build trust with AI as tasks become more ambitious, however there's still a 'deployment overhang' whereby models are still more capable than users currently allow. External evaluations also prove that models can handle much longer tasks in ideal conditions.

Claude is also helping on the trust front, pausing to ask clarification questions more than humans interrupt it.

In terms of coding, it seems that the more complex the task, the less human oversight there is. Complex ones like exploit discovery and compiler writing see around 67% human oversight, compared with 87% oversight on simple API tasks.

Claude also asks around twice as many questions on high-complexity tasks than simple ones.

Looking ahead, Anthropic covered the importance of training models to recognize uncertainty and to proactively ask clarifying questions. The company also discourages mandating manual approval for every action, claiming that it adds friction without necessary boosting safety.

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With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!

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