GoKawiilLance Whitney / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Claude AI lets you connect to several third-party services.
TripAdvisor, AllTrails, and Spotify are among the newest connectors.
I used Claude and its connectors to plan an upcoming hiking trip.
My wife and I like to travel, and I often use AI to help me plan a trip. Usually, I simply ask the chatbot to recommend local hotels and attractions. Though I've typically turned to ChatGPT and Gemini for this type of planning, another AI I've been using more frequently is Anthropic's Claude. To help with certain requests, Claude offers a feature called Connectors, through which you connect to and work with third-party services.
Also: I tested ChatGPT vs. Claude to see which is better - and if it's worth switching
Introduced in July 2025, Claude Connectors started with such external services as Gmail, Slack, and Canva. Since then, the AI has added additional services, mostly ones aimed at work- and finance-related activities. But on Thursday, Claude unveiled 15 new connectors, many of them directed more toward personal tasks. These include AllTrails, Audible, Instacart, Spotify, StubHub, TripAdvisor, and Uber, among others.
Some of the new additions caught my eye, as I thought they could help with travel planning. In this case, my wife and I want to head up to the Adirondacks this summer to hike and just enjoy the area. With that in mind, I tapped into a few of the new Claude Connectors to see how they could map out our trip.
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