Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:05] Welcome to ChatGPT Curious, a podcast for people who are, well, curious about ChatGPT. I'm, um, your host, Dr. Shantae Cofield, also known as the Maestro, and I created this show to explore what ChatGPT actually is. Really, though, are the files in the computer, how to use it, and what it might mean for how we think, work, create and move through life. Whether you're skeptical, intrigued, or already experimenting, you're in the right place. All that I ask is that you stay curious. All right, let's get into it.
[00:00:38] Hello, hello, hello, my curious people, and welcome to episode 29 of Chat GPT Curious. I am your grateful host, the Maestro, and today we are talking about Claude Code and Claude Cowork. So I know, I know the name of this podcast, Chat GPT Curious. Chat GPT. But like I've said a zillion times before, and like, it's right there on the website. My goal is to create educated and informed users and consumers, not die hard LLM loyalists. We can be LLM agnostic, if you will. Uh, and speaking of, next week's episode will discuss the best way to migrate from one LLM to another. Not because I'm leaving Chat GPT. I'm not going anywhere, but. But because I stay thinking about worst case scenarios. I am what I will call a complete catastrophizer. So I want to know, like, worst case scenario, I'm going to run through it and then I'm like, what am I going to do?
[00:01:35] Uh, and I feel it's always better to be prepared that, you know, better to be safe than sorry. So I was sitting here thinking about this for a bit and I was like, suppose this goes away or suppose, you know, in full transparency. I listened to a lot of, like, the, um, economic and podcast, we'll call them economic podcasts. And Scott Galloway is like, we should all. And by we, he meant you we, not himself. He was like, everyone should get rid of ChatGPT. And I was like, that is actually not going to stop what's going on. But that being the case, I was like, okay, well, what happens? You go somewhere else. Uh, which would defeat the purpose because he's trying to change the market, but either way, I'll talk about it. Next week's episode, my head went to, what happens if this thing. Thing dies? Just like I talk about if you follow me on my other platform, the Movement M Maestro, what happens if Instagram dies? What are you gonna do? Do you have an email list? So this is me thinking the same thing. What happens if Chat GPT dies? Goes away? It's not going anywhere. But, um, that is what next week's episode is all about. I spent today actually switching over and, like, you know, figuring that out.
[00:02:39] And so I want a little bit more time to play around with that. And then I will report. We'll report back next week.
[00:02:45] Um, and also, I wanted to get this episode out because it's very timely, uh, because Claude Cowork has just came out, like, two weeks ago, uh, and people starting to talk about it. So I wanted to get, uh, this out. But real quick, before we hop into it, I realize that perhaps not everyone listens. Who listens to this, this podcast or follow, you know, not everyone follows me on Instagram or, you know, perhaps you don't subscribe to my other newsletter, which is Maestro Mail. And to that end, I want to make sure that my stance and everything that is currently going on in the United States is crystal clear. Clear. I've said it before. I'll say it again. Trump ice. I stand for none of this, this whole administration, this episode. I'm recording this on January 28th. So when I say, you know, everything that's going on in the US Just in case someone listens to this episode, like, I don't know, a year from now, that is, that is the time period that this is going down.
[00:03:33] Um, and I, I just want to make sure that it's clear. It's like, it's a very weird time right now because the United States is, is not doing well.
[00:03:43] And to be talking about, you know, I do find escapism in this platform. Excuse me, in this topic and going into coding and things like that and learning more about it, I really do. I find a tremendous amount of escapism. But it feels weird for me. For anyone who doesn't see me on the other platforms or follow me another way, I don't want it to come off as tone deaf or just like, what. Why are you. How are you talking about coding right now? And, like, this is how I'm talking about coding, because it really is an escape for me.
[00:04:09] Um, but I'm not all anger. I do have action items. So in the show notes, I'm going to link a resource that I send out to my other newsletter. Uh, that other newsletter is called Maestro Mail. And I'll. I'll link that in the. In the show notes, and that has four actions, four different action items in it that you can start doing right now. Um, by the time that this episode drops, the Senate will have Already voted on ICE funding, but it is still great to be aware of.5calls.org I talk about that in, in the resource. Um, and there are plenty of other things you can contact your reps about and that is the easiest way to do it. So again, I'll link all of that in in the show notes. But today's topic, Claude Code and Claude Cowork. Why? Because there is a good chance maybe that you have heard them mention on the socials. And uh, I want you to be informed. Actually, Lex asked me about, he's like, have you ever heard of Claude clow work? And I was like, oh, I gotta do an episode. If she's hearing about it, it means it's out there. Uh, Claude Code has actually been around since like last February, but Claude Cowork just came out a few weeks ago, like the beginning of January, middle of January.
[00:05:12] Um, and so I want you to be informed. Disclaimer. I haven't used either. I have not used cloud code. I have not used Claude cowork. I will likely get into Claude Code sooner than later, giving my vide code vibe, coding endeavors.
[00:05:27] Um, but in this episode, you know, it's about sharing information rather than providing reviews or recommendations. Right? But it's full transparency. I haven't used either. I'm chatgpt and Cursor have satisfied all my needs. Um, but I probably will.
[00:05:43] I will head into the cloud code rabbit hole sooner than later. I've watched a ton of YouTube videos and things, um, about it, but this is just about. This episode is about presenting you with information. So for starters, Anthropic is the parent company of Claude. So just like OpenAI is the parent company of Chat GPT, Anthropic, that's the parent of Claude. Claude is an LLM, just like ChatGPT, right? It is a large language model, just like ChatGPT, Claude code and Claude Cowork. The simple, the simplified versions of what the fuck these are, right? These are tools that let Claude actually work on your computer instead of just chatting with you. Right? Uh, you describe what you need and then Claude the LLM will figure out the steps and handle it. Right? I want you to think of them as programs that wrap the Claude LLM, right? Wrap like W R A P. They wrap the Claude LLM. Worth noting, both Claude Code and Claude Cowork are only available to paid Claude subscribers. Right? So Claude code.
[00:06:45] I'm going to. Let me actually preface this. I'm going to explain both of them. I'm going to talk about both Claude Code and Claude Cowork in this episode. But if you're like, head starts to be exploding. All that you really need to pay attention to, if you're going to be attention to anything is Claude Cowork. That's likely a whole lot more applicable, uh, for you. But I want to speak to both of them because I don't know who's listening to this episode. Um, but for the average person, Claude Cowork is going to be more, more applicable. Okay, so first, Claude Code. Cloud Code is a program that was launched in February of 2025. Right. It's formally referred to as a command line tool, like in the, in the tech world. And this program runs on your computer and it allows Claude to read files, write and modify files, run commands, execute multi step workflows.
[00:07:31] A code base, right? A lot of jargon in there because this is for, is really developed for developers, engineers and people who are comfortable working with code.
[00:07:43] Originally, um, it could only be used inside of the terminal via the command line interface. So if you have any of you know what a terminal is, that little like black box there, you're like, oh, Jesus. Um, not for me. Okay.
[00:07:56] Why is that the only way that you could access it originally? Because it's designed for code bases and software projects. Right, right. Though you know, people are using it for a lot more than that now. But, um, it has since been adapted and you're able to use it via what's called an ide, which is an integrated development environment. I personally use Cursor. It's my favorite, in case you're wondering. Um, you can use it inside of the Claude app and you can use it. There's a web browser version as well. It is still very coder, developer, engineer, tech world, bias, tech world, heavy solution, Right. Because Claude was like, hey, let's get that money, let's get that cheddar. Right.
[00:08:35] Enter Claude Cowork. So this was released on January 12, 2026. Claude Cowork. It is marketed as Claude Code for Non developers. Right. Uh, it handles file management, document creation and data organization.
[00:08:52] You can access Claude Cowork via the Claude Code desktop app. And it is currently only available to Mac OS users. As of the day that this is being recorded, you all know shit changes every five seconds. But as of the day it's being recorded, that's who it's available for. That's how you access it. Um, if you are sitting there listening to this and you're like, what the fuck is the difference? I don't understand what's the difference in cloud code, cloud co work, what the fuck? You're not alone. And at first glance they seem very similar. And to the average person they probably seem very similar.
[00:09:25] Uh, and this is a good indicator that all you need is Claude Cowork. If they sound the exact same to you, Claude Cowork will be sufficient.
[00:09:33] The difference between the two is in execution capability.
[00:09:38] Claude code, right? That's the techie tool that can actually operate the system. It doesn't just touch the files, it actually operates the system.
[00:09:47] It can execute code, it can run commands, it can install things, it can talk to other apps, it can connect to services.
[00:09:54] Claude Cowork can only read and write and organize files, right? It's largely limited to file management.
[00:10:00] Fun fact, folks, fun fact. The Anthropic team used Claude Code to build Claude Cowork in about ten days.
[00:10:09] Uh, so Claude Code is like the big mama jama. It's the techie tool Claude Cowork. That is what we have for the average person.
[00:10:18] So a, uh, fun little analogy here. I was working with ChatGPT is like, yo, help me understand so I can help my people understand.
[00:10:24] And the analogy it gives me, I actually ask it to never give me analogies because I, it just takes up space. I don't fucking need them. But this time I was like, despite the fact I say that I hate them, can you give me one? And it gave me one that thinks pretty good, right? Gave me a kitchen analogy. So Claude cowork, right? This is what's going for the average person with Claude Cowork. That'd, um, be analogous to being able to chop ingredients, reorganize the pantry, rewrite a recipe, organize the recipes. Right? Um, you can't do anything else.
[00:10:53] Claude code, you could turn on the oven, you could use a blender, cook the recipe, adjust the recipe, adjust things while you're cooking. You can go get missing ingredients, you could run the dishwasher, you could install a new appliance, right? Big difference between the capability of Claude Cowork and Claude code. Again, if you're just like, I don't really understand, that means that all you need to worry about if you're going to try anything and play around with anything is Claude co work. Okay, so real quick, how is this different than Chat GPT, hopefully, or you know, or Claude, Right, again, M Claude and Chat GPT, those are the LLMs. Claude Co work and Claude Code, those are programs that wrap Claude, right? They use Claude and are able to do more things.
[00:11:41] So hopefully you can already See how it's different, right? With cloud code and cloud cover you can actually do things. Not just answer questions, not just chat.
[00:11:50] The big shift here is agency. These tools let Claude take action on your behalf. There's that word that we've talked about in the past. Agent Claude code and Claude Cowork are examples of AI agents or agentic AI tools. I have spoken about this in previous episodes and here it is again. But it's like actually true, right? This is AI that takes action instead of just chatting with you, right? Takes action on your behalf instead of just chatting with you. So a few ways that Claude co work is being used per chatgpt I had, I said, I asked it, I was like go and like figure, find, go search the Internet, bring me sources. Let me see. Usually things like Reddit and such. I uh, was like how are people using this thing? And so a uh, non exhaustive list. Non exhaustive, exhaustive, exhausted, no exhaustive list right here. Renaming hundreds of files with consistent naming conventions. Organizing a messy desktop into folders by project or topic. Sorting downloads by file type, date source. Turning a folder of PDFs into a single summarized report. Extracting key data from documents into a spreadsheet. Converting recipe, well not recipes. There I go. Converting receipts into an expense tracker. Creating a slide deck from notes docs or PDFs. Drafting a report from raw research files. Compiling meeting notes into clean docs. Batch converting file formats. Cleaning up and restructuring shared team folders. Creating a table of contents or index from a document set. Pulling highlights and quotes from multiple files into one document. Preparing deliverables from scattered inputs, notes to doc to slides. I, I will say I watched a YouTube video and it's like not great at actually making slides. Like it's like not what, at least initially like what it's doing right now.
[00:13:44] Um, I, I did a previous episode about Google Notebook LM that thing makes some slides but you can't edit those slides. So that's a difference, right? With something like Claude Cowork you can like edit actually like make a PowerPoint deck but you like so you can edit it. Um, but this is a list, non exhaustive list.
[00:14:04] Uh, if it's interesting to you go try it out. But I wanted to throw some things out there just like every single episode of this of ChatGPT. Curious I say how I use ChatGPT. I was like, let me get some examples of how people are using Cowork because I haven't used it yet. Right? So quick about the safety just in case any of you are like, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's like, can touch all these. It, uh, can do all these things with my files. Yes. And there are guardrails in place, um, for both CLAUDE code and Cloud Cowork. It requires explicit permission before permanently deleting any files. But it can delete files, right? So it's like, be careful. Uh, you can control which folders it has access to. It doesn't roam freely. CLAUDE will ask before taking significant actions. But again, CLAUDE can take destructive actions like deleting files. So be careful.
[00:14:52] You're giving it agency, uh, important things to know, which is going to be usage limits. And this is, this is important to bring up, I think, because it's different than what we're used to with something like ChatGPT, right? Which IGBT or any other LLM subscriptions, right? You just basically chat all that you want. Like, you just keep talking to it. The only time that I've really heard of it, like, stopping, is if you're on the free tier, obviously, or, uh, if you're like, trying to do a lot of images. But Cowork and code, they work differently, right? Cowork is compute intensive. A single task can burn through so many tokens, like as many tokens as dozens of regular chat conversations.
[00:15:31] Right. Uh, you can, however, choose which model of CLAUDE you're using, which their names are Opus, Sanne and Haiku. But you do have usage limits with Claude Code and Claude. Cowork Pro subscribers, at $20 a month, they're going to hit their usage limits much faster that if they're using Cowork than if they were just using Claude. Um, because again, you can just, if you're just using regular CLAUDE and just chatting, you can, like, chat forever. Cowork does hit limits, right? The max subscribers, the max payment plans, they have a 20 or subscriptions, I guess I'll call it. They have a hundred a month tier and a $200 a month tier, and then you get five times or 20 times more usage. Right? But once you hit your, your limit, Anthropic does offer the ability to pay more. You can turn on extra usage and then you can be charged a pay as you go rate, um, and your usage allocation will reset monthly. But the main thing I want you to understand here is that don't assume that you can just run co work all day and be like, I'm just gonna have it, like, do stuff for me all day. You have to pay 20amonth. Ain't gonna do it, right. This is very, very different. Than just chatting back and forth a fully. A few, very few complex tasks could literally eat up your entire month's allocation of that $20 plan. Okay, so my take on this on, on Claude code and, and Claude cowork. If it sounds interesting, give it a try. Right? We are all about curiosity here. Yes, again, you have to be on the, the paid plan, but, um, the $20 a month tier is enough to. To simply get started.
[00:17:05] Again, I have not tried either yet, though Claude code is likely in the near future, but I haven't done it yet. Um, so again, this episode is simply for information and awareness as opposed to, you know, recommendation and reviews.
[00:17:18] If you want more info, you want to, like, look at something and see something, check out Anthropic's blog post about Claude coworker. I think it's actually, it is a good little, um, like a little marketing thing on there. They got a little video, although it's embedded from YouTube and I'm like, why would you don't have Vimeo? Because I say that because then it like, takes you to the channel. Like, maybe that's intentional. Actually, uh, no, because other videos came out either way. The issue when you embed Something from YouTube is that commercials then show and you're just like. Like things pop up at the end as opposed to it just being your own stuff. So a little bit of a tangent, but either way, I will link that blog post in in the show notes. All right, last things. Last year, how did I use Chat GPT this week? And I've been talking about Claude, but this is Chat GPT. Curious, how did I use Chat GPT this week? Well, for those of you who don't know, maybe you're new to the podcast. Each week I include a section where I briefly discuss how I use Chat GBT that week. This week, like I alluded to in the very beginning of the episode, I use chat to help me create an LLM, what I call what I have named an LLM Portable Memory Doc or document that I can upload to any LLM so that it knows me and I can hit the ground running, right? My, my whole thing is, can I switch and use a different LLM? Like, I have used ChatGPT for years now. We have so many conversations. It knows this, you know, stylistically, what I want and how can I most rapidly expeditiously get a new LLM up to speed? So I created a portable memory doc and I will be breaking down how exactly I did that in next week's episode. So stay tuned that, my friends, is all that I got for today. Hopefully you found this episode helpful. I know it wasn't about ChatGPT, but still hopefully found it helpful. And if you did, maybe consider leaving me a review or rating, preferably, you know, one or the other. But we're at 23 ratings. Let's get to 25. How about that? It's much easier than a review. I love the reviews. I read them. Uh, but it's very easy to just go boop, boop on. Uh, you can only do it on.
[00:19:19] What is it called? What is it called? What am I saying? On Apple podcasts. So if you listen, if that's what you're listening on, would love a, uh, rating. I don't really know if Spotify has anything.
[00:19:29] If it does, I. I'll check, but I don't really know. I don't listen to podcasts over there, but either way, I'm grateful that you tune in at all. Right. Don't forget, I do have a companion newsletter, the Curious Companion, that drops every Thursday that is basically the podcast episode in text format. So if you prefer to read or you just want a written record, join the newsletter fam. You can head to ChatGPT, curious.com forward/newsletter, or you can check out the link in the show notes. As always, endlessly, endlessly, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Until we chat again next Thursday, stay curious.
