Anthropic introduced Claude Duet, a new AI assistant app designed to help professionals and small-business owners manage tasks autonomously. The app operates as a proactive agent that monitors connected services and surfaces items requiring attention without waiting for user prompts.

Duet delivers daily briefings and handles activities such as scheduling meetings, generating financial forecasts, and building web applications. It is accessible on iOS, Android, and through the claude.ai platform via a research preview that requires users to join a waitlist. Initially, the service is available only to subscribers of Anthropic's Pro and Max plans in the United States, who share existing usage limits.

The assistant is built on Anthropic's Opus 5.5 language model and integrates with more than 6,000 connectors in the Claude Marketplace, including Gmail and Slack. It can process purchases through Stripe's Link digital wallet and Shopify's Shop Pay system. For sensitive operations, Claude Duet requires explicit user approval before proceeding.

Anthropic notes that the agent may occasionally misjudge task urgency and remains less effective for personal errands like ticket reservations. The launch follows similar efforts by competitors: OpenAI recently released always-on "dots" agents that pursue goals across platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, while Meta's Muse AI agent attracted millions of downloads and heightened investor interest in autonomous AI services.