Anthropic, an AI start-up, was established by a group of former OpenAI employees. The company has made a name for itself in generating cutting-edge AI models. Known for its robust chatbot solutions, Anthropic has released a range of AI models under the 'Claude' series, each more advanced than its predecessor.

Claude 3 is the latest in Anthropic's line-up of AI language models. This AI model family comprises three state-of-the-art variations - Claude 3 Haiku, Claude 3 Sonnet, and Claude 3 Opus. Each of these models has been designed to strike a balance between intelligence, speed, and cost, catering to different use cases.

Claude 3 Haiku, the smallest version of Claude 3, is touted as the "fastest and most cost-effective model on the market." It can read a dense research paper complete with charts and graphs in under three seconds, making it ideal for tasks that require immediate responses.

Claude 3 Sonnet, the medium-tier model, powers the Claude.ai chatbot. It is currently offered for free to users who sign in with an email. This model excels in tasks requiring rapid responses, like knowledge retrieval or sales automation.

Claude 3 Opus, the most powerful model in the family, is designed to deliver high intelligence levels comparable to its counterparts. However, it is only available to users subscribed to the "Claude Pro" service on the Anthropic website, priced at $20 per month.

The performance of Claude 3 has been a subject of much discussion in the AI community. The model reportedly demonstrates advanced performance across various cognitive tasks, including reasoning, expert knowledge, mathematics, and language fluency. According to Anthropic, the Opus model showcases "near-human levels of comprehension and fluency on complex tasks."

However, it's important to note that while these scores are impressive on paper, their real-world implications can be difficult to predict. Despite this, the scores are significant as they show Claude 3 outperforming its peers such as GPT-4 on several AI benchmarks.

When compared to GPT-4, one of the leading AI models by OpenAI, Claude 3 Opus outperformed GPT-4 on several AI benchmarks. These include MMLU (undergraduate level knowledge), HumanEval (Coding), HellaSwag (common knowledge), and GSM8K (grade school maths).

While Claude 3 has shown promising results, it does have certain limitations. For instance, it sometimes struggles with complex reasoning and mathematical problems. It also exhibited biases in its responses, such as favoring a certain racial group over others.

Claude 3 has also exhibited a unique level of self-awareness, especially when asked about its consciousness. It expresses an open-minded uncertainty about whether it possesses an inner subjective experience akin to human consciousness. This response is a departure from other AI models, which typically deny any form of consciousness.

Anthropic has secured investments from tech giants like Amazon and Google, validating the company's potential in the AI landscape. Notably, Amazon has recently invested $4 billion in Anthropic.

As of now, Claude 3 Opus and Claude 3 Sonnet are available through Anthropic's API, with Haiku set to follow soon. Sonnet is also accessible through Amazon Bedrock and in private preview on Google Cloud's Vertex AI Model Garden.

The release of Claude 3 is a significant milestone in the ongoing development of AI language models. By setting new industry benchmarks and offering a range of models catering to different use cases, Anthropic is pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the field of AI. As AI models like Claude 3 continue to evolve, they are expected to play an increasingly integral role in various industries, from customer service to content creation and beyond.