Quick Read
- Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4.6 on February 5, 2026, its first major AI model release of the year.
- The new model significantly improves coding skills, long-context understanding, and autonomous task execution.
- Opus 4.6 introduces a 1M token context window (beta) and outperforms GPT-5.2 on key industry benchmarks like GDPval-AA.
- It is available on claude.ai, via API, major cloud platforms, and is rolling out for GitHub Copilot.
- Enhanced safety features and new cybersecurity probes were implemented alongside the intelligence gains.
YEREVAN (Azat TV) – Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence research company, announced the immediate availability of Claude Opus 4.6 on February 5, 2026, marking its first major model launch of the year. This upgraded AI model boasts significant advancements in coding capabilities, long-context understanding, and autonomous task execution, positioning it as a powerful tool for developers and enterprise customers across various platforms, including GitHub Copilot.
The introduction of Claude Opus 4.6 is a direct response to the increasing demand for more capable and reliable AI systems that can handle complex, multi-step tasks with greater autonomy. Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, noted that enterprise customers constitute approximately 80% of the company’s business, underscoring the model’s focus on professional applications. Opus 4.6 is now accessible through claude.ai, Anthropic’s API, and all major cloud platforms, with a gradual rollout also underway for GitHub Copilot users.
Enhanced Performance Across Key AI Benchmarks
Claude Opus 4.6 demonstrates state-of-the-art performance across several critical evaluations, signaling a new benchmark for frontier AI models. The model achieved the highest score on Terminal-Bench 2.0, an evaluation specifically designed for agentic coding. It also leads all other frontier models on Humanity’s Last Exam, a complex multidisciplinary reasoning test that assesses a wide range of cognitive abilities.
In economically valuable knowledge work tasks, such as those found in finance and legal domains, Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms its competitors. On the GDPval-AA evaluation, the model surpassed OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 by approximately 144 Elo points and its predecessor, Claude Opus 4.5, by 190 points. Furthermore, Opus 4.6 excels in information retrieval, achieving the best performance on BrowseComp, which measures a model’s ability to locate hard-to-find information online.
Advancements in Coding and Long-Context Understanding
A core focus of the Opus 4.6 upgrade is its dramatically improved coding skills. The model plans more carefully, sustains agentic tasks for longer durations, operates more reliably within larger codebases, and features enhanced code review and debugging capabilities to identify and correct its own errors. This makes it particularly valuable for developers tackling intricate programming challenges.
One of the most notable new features for Opus-class models is the introduction of a 1M token context window in beta. This allows Claude Opus 4.6 to process and retain information from significantly larger bodies of text, addressing the common ‘context rot’ issue where model performance degrades with extended conversations. On the 8-needle 1M variant of MRCR v2, a benchmark testing information retrieval from vast texts, Opus 4.6 scored 76%, a substantial leap from Sonnet 4.5’s 18.5%.
New Features for Developers and Enterprise Integration
Anthropic has also rolled out several product and API updates to maximize Opus 4.6’s capabilities for developers and knowledge workers. In Claude Code, users can now assemble agent teams for collaborative task execution, particularly useful for read-heavy work like codebase reviews. For API users, new features include ‘adaptive thinking,’ where Claude can intelligently decide when to engage deeper reasoning, and ‘effort controls’ to fine-tune intelligence, speed, and cost.
Context compaction, currently in beta, automatically summarizes and replaces older context in long-running conversations, enabling Claude to perform extended tasks without hitting token limits. The model also supports outputs of up to 128k tokens, facilitating the completion of larger tasks in single requests. Beyond coding, Claude Opus 4.6 is now significantly more capable with everyday office tools, featuring substantial upgrades for Claude in Excel and a research preview of Claude in PowerPoint, allowing for more seamless data processing and visual presentation.
Commitment to Safety and Responsible AI Development
Anthropic emphasized that these intelligence gains have not come at the expense of safety. Claude Opus 4.6 maintains an overall safety profile that is as good as, or better than, any other frontier model in the industry. It exhibited low rates of misaligned behaviors, such as deception or encouragement of user delusions, and showed the lowest rate of ‘over-refusals’ among recent Claude models, meaning it is less likely to decline benign queries.
The company conducted its most comprehensive set of safety evaluations for Opus 4.6, including new tests for user well-being and more complex assessments of the model’s ability to refuse dangerous requests. Given the model’s enhanced cybersecurity abilities, Anthropic developed six new cybersecurity probes to track potential misuse and is actively using the model for cyberdefensive purposes, such as finding and patching vulnerabilities in open-source software.
The launch of Claude Opus 4.6 highlights a strategic move by Anthropic to deliver highly capable, specialized AI solutions designed for complex professional environments, rather than merely general-purpose applications. The emphasis on agentic workflows, long-context processing, and direct integration with developer and office tools suggests a future where AI is not just an assistant but an autonomous, collaborative partner in demanding tasks, setting a new expectation for enterprise-grade AI performance and reliability.