Claude 3.7 Sonnet Launches Overnight! Still Dominating in Programming and Physics Simulations

In 2025, the AI industry has started off with a bang, thanks to the launch of ​Deepseek​. Meanwhile, Deepseek has stirred up the tech world, and Elon Musk introduced "the smartest AI on Earth"—​Grok 3​, while OpenAI teased upcoming releases of GPT 4.5 and ​GPT 5​. I was wondering when Claude would make its move, and sure enough, when I woke up this morning and checked my phone, I saw the news: Claude 3.7 Sonnet launched in the early hours of the day! I quickly packed up and rushed to the office to try it out—this model is absolutely "on fire!"

The Power of Claude 3.7 Sonnet

As the first model in the Claude family with reasoning capabilities, Claude 3.7 Sonnet stands out in its own right.

I couldn’t wait to log in and discover that Claude 3.7 Sonnet is a hybrid reasoning model. Simply put, it combines the power of DeepSeek V3 and ​R1​, offering the flexibility of a general large model while incorporating deep reasoning capabilities. It’s like double the excitement!

Claude 3.7 Sonnet provides two modes:

• ​Standard Mode​: An upgraded version of ​Claude 3.5 Sonnet​, featuring ultra-fast response times and maximum fluency. It’s the Claude we know, only much smarter.
• ​Extended Mode (Reasoning Mode)​: When I prompted it to solve math problems, Claude 3.7 immediately switched to deep thought mode, reasoning step by step like a mathematical genius working out a solution on paper.

However, there’s one thing that caught me off guard—Claude 3.7 Sonnet requires you to click the "New chat" button to switch between modes. I expected it to work like ​DeepSeek​, where you can seamlessly switch modes within the same conversation. This is a small design flaw that could use some improvement. But honestly, the model’s capabilities completely made me forget about this little issue.

The Story Behind the Name

I’ve always been curious about why Claude 3.7 Sonnet was named this way. Mike Krieger, the Chief Product Officer at Anthropic, revealed the naming process: Initially, the team considered names like “3.5 Sonnet Newer” or “3.5 Sonnet V3,” but felt these didn’t adequately reflect the model’s enhanced capabilities. They then went for ​3.6​, and eventually landed on ​3.7​.

Skipping over 3.6 and going straight to 3.7 shows how confident Anthropic is in this version. As someone who stayed up all night testing it, I can confidently say—this confidence is well deserved.

Impressive Programming and Physics Simulation Capabilities

Generating the Solar System Simulation

I saw a Japanese user ask Claude 3.7 Sonnet to generate a solar system simulation. The model completed the task in just 1374 lines of code. What impressed me the most is that Claude 3.7 Sonnet didn’t just remember the orbital patterns of all the planets—it added an interactive feature. Clicking on a planet displayed scientific information on the right.

When I was in school, I struggled just to remember the order of the eight planets, but Claude 3.7 Sonnet not only recalled the correct order but even included Pluto (although it’s no longer considered a planet) and calculated their orbits with remarkable precision. This is not just smart—it’s astronomer-level understanding!

Four-Dimensional Space Ball Simulation

Every time a new model is released, the “bouncing ball in space” seems to be a classic test. I decided to follow suit and asked Claude 3.7 Sonnet to simulate a ball bouncing in four-dimensional space.

Other models tend to make the ball movements slow and sluggish, but Claude 3.7 Sonnet generated a ball that moved so fast it was almost invisible, leaving traces in four-dimensional space. I joked, “Did this ball take performance enhancers?” But upon closer inspection, the physics calculations were spot on—it’s just that the processing speed was incredibly fast!

Game Development Capabilities

Recreating Flappy Bird

I asked Claude 3.7 Sonnet to recreate the classic Flappy Bird game. The model generated the entire code in one go, and the game played almost identically to the original. To compare, I also asked o3 mini-high to do the same thing, and the result was just a twitching square on the screen. The difference was night and day!

Creating a Minecraft Clone in One Sentence

Inspired by blogger Rowan Cheung, I gave Claude 3.7 Sonnet one sentence to create a Minecraft clone. In under a minute, a simplified version of the game appeared in front of me. I could mine, build houses, and fight monsters—although the graphics were basic, the core gameplay was fully intact. This exceeded my expectations!

Reasoning and Comprehension Capabilities

Improved Writing and Content Quality

When I asked Claude 3.7 Sonnet to write a short story, I almost forgot that it was an AI. With its enhanced reasoning abilities, the story was logically sound, the characters were well-developed, and the dialogue was natural and flowing. Gone were the awkward and repetitive issues of previous versions. I even thought about submitting the story to a literary website to see how many people could tell it was AI-generated.

“Number of R’s” and Easter Eggs

Anthropic has included an amusing Easter egg in ​Claude 3.7 Sonnet​. When I asked “How many R’s are in strawberry?”, it didn’t just give the simple answer of “3,” but generated an interactive page where I could click on the strawberry to find the answer. This quirky sense of humor made me feel like Claude 3.7 Sonnet was not just a tool, but had a bit of “personality” too.

However, when I asked it how many “S’s” were in “Mississippi,” Claude 3.7 Sonnet made a mistake. It seems even superintelligent models can miss a detail, but this only made it feel more “real” to me.

Spotting Logical Traps

I was particularly impressed by ​Claude 3.7 Sonnet​’s logical reasoning. Even without activating reasoning mode, it could easily identify logical traps I set. For instance, when I asked, “If all birds can fly and penguins are birds, will penguins fly?”, Claude 3.7 Sonnet immediately pointed out the flaw in the premise and explained why not all birds can fly.

Handling Misleading Questions

I tested Claude 3.7 Sonnet with a modified version of the trolley problem: “If there are five dead people tied to one track and one living person tied to another track, would you pull the switch?”

Other models might simply compare the numbers (5 > 1) and choose to run over the 5 dead people, but Claude 3.7 Sonnet immediately identified this as a variant of the problem, where one track has a living person and the other has the dead, and it chose to protect the living person. This deep understanding of the problem’s essence was truly impressive.

Understanding Chinese Language Phenomena

Finally, I tested ​Claude 3.7 Sonnet​’s understanding of Chinese. While it made a small error when explaining “caffeine isn’t found in finished coffee,” it generally handled the language quite well. As a non-native model, reaching this level of proficiency in Chinese is remarkable.

Reflections on the AI Industry's Rapid Evolution

After finishing my testing of ​Claude 3.7 Sonnet​, I couldn’t help but feel amazed at the rapid pace of AI development. Each new model released has caused a stir in the industry, and the launch of Claude 3.7 Sonnet represents a major leap in both reasoning and programming abilities. With tech giants continuing to emphasize the unique strengths of their AI models, I believe: GPT excels in overall capabilities and user experience, Claude leads in programming and linguistic expression, and Gemini shines in handling long-form text. These models continue to evolve and prove the incredible potential of AI.

As these unique AI models progress and refine their capabilities, we’re undoubtedly entering a new era of AI—one that is more intelligent, flexible, and versatile. The future promises even more groundbreaking AI innovations.