Core conceptClaude

Model

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

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

Model

Related terms

Further reading