Core conceptClaude

Model

The trained system that actually produces the answers. Claude comes in several models that trade speed for power.

Claude models trade speed for power Four bars rising from left to right: a fast, light model through to the most capable, heavier one. Haiku Sonnet Opus Fable FAST & LIGHT → MORE POWERFUL

A model is the thing you are really talking to: a system trained on huge amounts of text that generates responses. Different models suit different jobs, so Claude offers a few, from fast and light to slow and powerful.

Picking the right one is a small but useful skill: reach for the everyday model for most work, and the heavyweight only when a task is genuinely hard.

Often confused with: The app or chatbot. The window you type into is the wrapper; the model is the trained engine inside it that actually writes the answer.

See it in a lesson: Models, thinking, and web access

Further reading

All terms