Anthropic launches a work-focused AI companion for professionals

The artificial intelligence sector is currently saturated with new productivity tools and personal assistants, with new entrants appearing on a weekly basis. Against this backdrop of intense competition, Anthropic has officially introduced Claude Duet, a new mobile and web application designed to carve out a specific niche in the market.

The platform is built upon the Claude Opus 5.5 model and is engineered to integrate with more than 6,000 different connectors and plug-ins available within the Claude Marketplace. This extensive connectivity allows the system to interact with a wide variety of professional tools and services, forming the technical backbone of its operational capabilities.

Anthropic has positioned Duet primarily as a utility for professionals and small business owners, distinguishing it from purely personal assistants like Instinct. The company explicitly notes that Duet is not optimized for casual errands, such as booking tickets, and it does not provide a live visual feed of its browser activity. Instead, the agent focuses on structured work tasks, capable of constructing daily briefings, generating custom dashboards, and suggesting strategic actions based on user data. It operates in the background using its own virtual machine, allowing users to continue their work while the agent processes tasks, only surfacing when it requires user approval.

This launch coincides with a broader industry shift from simple chatbots to autonomous agents that can execute tasks on behalf of users. Several competitors are already targeting the business sector; for instance, Meta’s Muse includes a version tailored for small businesses with app integrations, while OpenAI’s Dots emphasizes its utility through professional tool integration. Anthropic aims to compete directly with these offerings, along with other agents like Hark, Grok Bot, and Fo, by emphasizing proactive management of ongoing professional responsibilities.

The application is designed to monitor active tasks and proactively deliver recommendations to users. A key feature is its ability to facilitate online purchases through integrations with Stripe’s Link digital wallet and Shopify’s Shop Pay. To maintain control, Anthropic states that sensitive actions, particularly payments, will always require explicit user consent. However, the agent has distinct limitations; it is not authorized to trade securities or transfer funds between different accounts, ensuring a defined scope of financial authority.

Security measures are central to the new release, as Anthropic has introduced a specialized classifier that scans every message to prevent the leakage of sensitive information. By default, the system is configured to decline requests for highly private data, such as credit card numbers or government identification numbers, unless the user explicitly overrides these settings.

Claude Duet is currently accessible on both iOS and Android devices, as well as via the web interface at Claude.ai. It is available to Pro and Max subscribers in a research preview phase, with new users required to join a waitlist to gain access to the platform.