NAIROBI – Global AI company Anthropic announced the launch of its latest flagship model, Claude 4.5 Opus, on Monday, 24th November 2025, introducing powerful new features aimed at transforming office productivity, with a specific focus on Microsoft Excel. This development arrives at a critical time for Kenya, where businesses are rapidly adopting AI to gain a competitive edge in a dynamic digital economy.

The new model is positioned as a direct competitor to offerings from Google and OpenAI, with Anthropic claiming it is the "best model in the world for coding, agents, and computer use." For Kenyan businesses, the most significant update is the broad availability of 'Claude for Excel,' an add-in that embeds the AI assistant directly into spreadsheets. This tool, now accessible to all Max, Team, and Enterprise users, allows the AI to read, analyze, modify, and create complex workbooks using natural language commands.

So What for Kenya?

Microsoft Excel is a cornerstone of business operations in Kenya, widely used for financial modeling, data analysis, and reporting across sectors from banking to agriculture. The introduction of an advanced AI tool that can automate complex spreadsheet tasks could unlock significant efficiency gains. Anthropic's new model can debug formulas, build financial models from templates, analyze large datasets, and generate charts and pivot tables, tasks that are crucial for Kenyan financial analysts, accountants, and SMEs.

This aligns with a broader trend of accelerated AI adoption in the country. A November 2025 report by Arion Research LLC revealed that 96% of Kenyan organizations have started implementing AI, with a strong focus on improving customer service and software development. The integration of AI into a ubiquitous tool like Excel lowers the barrier to entry for sophisticated data analysis, potentially empowering businesses to make more data-driven decisions and enhance productivity. Studies have already shown that AI integration can improve productivity in Kenyan SMEs by as much as 29%.

Global Competition, Local Opportunity

Anthropic's release is part of an intense innovation cycle in the AI industry. Claude 4.5 Opus is benchmarked directly against Google's Gemini 3 Pro, with Anthropic reporting superior performance on key software engineering tests. On the SWE-bench Verified test, which measures real-world coding ability, Opus 4.5 scored 80.9% compared to Gemini 3 Pro's 76.2%.

For Kenya's vibrant developer community, the model's enhanced coding capabilities and a more accessible API pricing of $5 per million input tokens (down from $15) present a significant opportunity. This cost reduction makes it more feasible for local startups and tech hubs in Nairobi to build and deploy advanced AI-powered applications, furthering Kenya's status as a continental tech leader.

Beyond Excel, Anthropic has rolled out other key features. 'Claude for Chrome,' a browser extension, is now available to all Max users, and a new 'infinite chat' feature allows for continuous conversations without losing context, a highly requested function from users.

Availability and Access

Claude 4.5 Opus is available immediately through Anthropic's applications and its API, as well as on major cloud platforms like Amazon Bedrock. Businesses in Kenya can deploy the Claude for Excel add-in via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. While the long-term impact on the job market remains a subject of analysis, the focus, according to a 2023 World Economic Forum report, is on training the workforce to leverage AI tools rather than on replacement. This launch places a powerful new tool in the hands of Kenyan professionals, with the potential to accelerate innovation and efficiency across the economy.