Kalakshar US

In May, Anthropic announced two new AI systems, Opus 4 and Sonnet 4. Now, less than six months later, the company is introducing Sonnet 4.5, and calling it the best coding model in the world to date. Anthropic’s basis for that claim is a selection of benchmarks where the new AI outperforms not only its predecessor but also the more expensive Opus 4.1 and competing systems, including Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro and GPT-5 from OpenAI. For instance, in OSWorld, a suite that tests AI models on real-world computer tasks, Sonnet 4.5 set a record score of 61.4 percent, putting it 17 percentage points above Opus 4.1. 

At the same time, the new model is capable of autonomously working on multi-step projects for more than 30 hours, a significant improvement from the seven or so hours Opus 4 could maintain at launch. That’s an important milestone for the type of agentic systems Anthropic wants to build. 

Sonnet 4.5 outperforms Anthropic’s older models in coding and agentic tasks.

Perhaps more importantly, the company claims Sonnet 4.5 is its safest AI system to date, with the model having undergone “extensive” safety training. That training translates to a chatbot Anthropic says is “substantially” less prone to “sycophancy, deception, power-seeking and the tendency to encourage delusional thinking” — all potential model traits that have landed OpenAI in hot water in recent months. At the same time, Anthropic has strengthened Sonnet 4.5’s protections against prompt injection attacks. Due to the sophistication of the new model, Anthropic is releasing Sonnet 4.5 under its AI Safety Level 3 framework, meaning it comes with filters designed to prevent potentially dangerous outputs related to prompts around chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.  

A chart showing how Sonnet 4.5 compares against other frontier models in safety testing.

With today’s announcement, Anthropic is also rolling out quality of life improvements across the Claude product stack. To start, Claude Code, the company’s popular coding agent, has a refreshed terminal interface, with a new feature called checkpoints included. As you can probably guess from the name, they allow you to save your progress and roll back to a previous state if Claude writes some funky code that isn’t quite working like you imagined it would. File creation, which Anthropic began rolling out at the start of the month, is now available directly in conversations with the chatbot, and if you joined the waitlist Claude for Chrome, you can start using the extension today.   

API pricing for Sonnet 4.5 remains at $3 per one million input tokens and $15 for the same amount of output tokens. The release of Sonnet 4.5 caps off a strong September for Anthropic. Just one day after Microsoft added Claude models to Copilot 365 last week, OpenAI admitted its rival offers the best AI for work-related tasks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/claude-sonnet-45-is-anthropics-safest-ai-model-yet-170000161.html?src=rss 

Your AirPods may soon become your most important pieces of fitness gear. One of the AirPods Pro 3’s new features is heart rate tracking for both workouts and periodic pulse checks. Apple’s latest earbuds are equipped with photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors that shine infrared light hundreds of times per second to measure how light is absorbed in blood flow. What’s more, the AirPods Pro 3 work in tandem with the iPhone’s accelerometers, gyroscope, GPS and on-device AI for more comprehensive cardio insights and to estimate calories burned during exercise. Here’s how to use heart-rate monitoring with the AirPods Pro 3, along with some maintenance tips to keep the tech in prime working condition. 

How the AirPods Pro 3 measure your heart rate

An important aspect of getting accurate data from your AirPods is understanding how the earbuds track your heart rate. If you’re using Apple’s Fitness app, the AirPods Pro 3 will continuously monitor your pulse during a workout. In addition to the heart rate sensor and accelerometer in the earbuds, details like location, barometric pressure and health information are also pulled from your iPhone, and they’re all used to estimate the calories you burn each session. Lastly, if you’re wearing both an Apple Watch and the AirPods Pro 3 during a workout, the device with the most accurate data over the last five minutes will be used to track your heart rate. 

If you prefer to keep one ear completely unobstructed for whatever reason, you might be happy to know you only need to wear one of your AirPods Pro 3 during a workout to track your heart rate. Both earbuds are equipped with heart rate sensors; you can wear either one so you won’t have to forego your favorite ear. 

Required devices for heart rate tracking on the AirPods Pro 3

It probably goes without saying, but you need a set of the AirPods Pro 3 to use the heart rate feature. None of the older AirPods models have onboard heart rate sensors. The only other option in Apple’s stable that does is the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. 

You’ll also need an iPhone that’s capable of running iOS 26. This is every model from the iPhone 11 and newer, including the second-generation iPhone SE.

How to turn the AirPods Pro 3 heart rate sensing on/off

Turning heart rate sensing on and off on the AirPods Pro 3 is simple. The feature is enabled by default, but you can turn it off in the AirPods settings menu on your iPhone. 

Put your AirPods Pro 3 in your ears and make sure they’re connected to your iPhone. 

Go to the Settings app on your phone.

On the main menu, tap the name of your AirPods, which will appear near the top of the screen. 

Scroll down to Heart Rate and turn it off.

Repeat the same steps to turn Heart Rate back on.

How to view your heart rate

Heart rate stats are available as Live Activities on the Lock Screen.

In addition to workout apps, you can also view your heart rate in the Health app on your iPhone or iPad. Here, you’ll be able to see live data from the AirPods Pro 3’s heart rate sensors. 

In the Health app

Put your AirPods Pro 3 in your ears and make sure they’re connected to your iPhone or iPad. 

Open the Health app on an iPhone or iPad.

Tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom right, then tap Heart, then tap Heart Rate. 

Your live heart rate from AirPods Pro 3 will be displayed in a graph.

During a workout

As I mentioned before, your heart rate will appear in the Fitness app during workouts. The AirPods Pro 3 can also send that data to compatible third-party apps. For those, you’ll need to give the app permission to access your heart rate data, as well as the ability to read and record workouts. You’ll only have to do this once: when you use a third-party workout app with Apple Health for the first time.

Put your AirPods Pro 3 in your ears and make sure they’re connected to your iPhone.

Go to the Fitness app or a third-party workout app on your iPhone. (Apple hasn’t published a list of supported apps, but iOS fitness apps that offer heart-rate tracking should work with the AirPods Pro 3 if the developer decides to do so. Examples of those include Nike Run Club, Peloton, Runna and Ladder.)

Start a workout in the app you choose. 

Your heart rate will appear in the app during your workout. If you see dashes or the number is dimmed, that means the AirPods Pro 3 aren’t getting a good reading. This is similar to what happens if your Apple Watch is not maintaining contact with your wrist and is typically a result of a loose wristband. Check the fit of your earbuds and make sure they’re connected to your iPhone.

To stop heart rate tracking in any of the apps, end your workout.

You will then get a summary of the heart rate stats for your workout in a third-party app or Apple’s Fitness or Health apps. 

Just ask Siri any time

In addition to looking at heart rate data in the Health app or other workout apps, you can just ask Siri to tell you a current reading without ever touching your phone.

Put your AirPods Pro 3 in your ears and make sure they’re connected to your iPhone.

Ask Siri “What’s my heart rate?” or something similar. 

Remember: You don’t need to touch the buttons on the AirPods Pro 3 in order to activate Siri. If Talk to Siri is set to “Siri or Hey Siri” or “Hey Siri” under Apple Intelligence & Siri in the Settings app on your iPhone, you only need to use the wake word and then ask your question. If not, you can activate Siri with a press and hold the Force Touch button on either side until you hear a chime. 

Best practices to keep heart rate measurements accurate

The AirPods Pro 3 are an even more powerful workout companion.

Like any activity-monitoring device, there are some habits that will help ensure the data that you’re getting from the AirPods Pro 3 is as accurate as possible. Not only do the AirPods Pro 3 track heart rate, but the motion sensor data it sends to your iPhone is essential to calculate things like calories burned, steps and distance for your daily activity. For this reason, it’s crucial that your earbuds and iPhone or iPad are working together properly. 

Make sure your AirPods Pro 3 fit well. If there isn’t good contact between the heart rate sensors on the AirPods Pro 3 and the skin inside your ear, you could get poor heart rate readings. Apple warns users that the best ear tip size for acoustic seal and the best one for heart rate tracking may be different. 

Maintain up-to-date information in the Health app. The details that you enter into the Health app — such as height, weight, gender and age — are used with heart rate and motion sensor data to calculate metrics like calories burned. 

Keep warm: cold ears may impact the performance of the AirPods Pro 3. If you’re exercising in cold locations, you may have trouble getting accurate readings from the AirPods Pro 3. Low temperatures can reduce the blood flow to your ears, which makes it more difficult for the earbuds to track your heart rate accurately. 

Check your ears regularly. Earwax buildup, moisture or skin conditions can affect contact between the AirPods Pro 3 and your skin. 

Check your jewelry or piercings. Apple says metal jewelry from piercings can also interfere with heart rate readings. If you encounter any performance issues during workouts, the company recommends removing any piercings near the location where the AirPods Pro 3 sit in your ears. 

Know that everyone’s ears are different. The amount of blood flow detectable through the skin varies from person to person. Like I said earlier, this can also be affected by the environment (cold weather, for example) or activity levels. If blood flow in your ears changes based on either of these factors, it can impact the performance of heart-rate tracking on the AirPods Pro 3.

Clean your AirPods Pro 3. To keep the AirPods Pro 3 in peak working condition, clean them regularly. Tips for the best ways to do that are available in our AirPods cleaning guide.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/how-to-use-the-airpods-pro-3s-heart-rate-tracking-feature-141510469.html?src=rss