Anthropic Unveils Claude Duet, A Proactive AI Agent
Claude Duet can monitor connected apps, prepare briefings and work on tasks in the background, but access to its research preview is limited to a US subscriber waitlist.
Anthropic has announced Claude Duet, a new AI agent that can monitor connected apps, flag items needing attention and carry out tasks in the background. The company is introducing it as a research preview, with access through a waitlist for eligible Claude subscribers in the US. Both Engadget and The Verge describe Duet as Anthropic’s answer to Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots.
Table of Contents
How Duet works
Duet is built around Claude Opus 5.5. According to The Verge, it draws on a user’s Claude memory, skills and connected apps, and has its own virtual machine and browser for completing work. Engadget reports that the agent can keep working without a Claude session open.
Each morning, Duet is designed to produce a short briefing on important items from connected apps. It then checks for developments during the day and messages the user when something needs attention. Anthropic says users can assign it jobs ranging from scheduling meetings to building dashboards, preparing financial or sales forecasts, prototyping and creating web apps.
Engadget reports that Duet checks connected accounts every few hours rather than continuously to limit its use of a subscriber’s plan allowance. Users will be able to adjust how often it messages them and which topics prompt a notification. Duet’s usage is shared with other Claude tools, including Claude Code, so work delegated to the agent will count against the same limits.
Access and safeguards
The Verge says Duet can be used through Claude on the web and as a standalone iOS or Android app. Engadget reports that Anthropic is releasing the mobile apps. For now, trying Duet requires joining a US waitlist: The Verge specifies that applicants must subscribe to Claude Pro or Max, while Engadget says the waitlist is open to Claude subscribers in the US. Engadget also reports that subscribers to the $20-per-month Pro plan will get access when Duet becomes generally available.
Because Duet can act on information in connected accounts, Anthropic has described safeguards for sensitive data and consequential actions. The Verge reports that Duet asks for approval before major steps such as sending a payment or deleting something. Both outlets describe a new classifier and safety prompt intended to prevent disclosure of sensitive information. Engadget says Anthropic has stated that Duet will not directly see passwords or sign-in tokens, and will share information related to health or personal finances only when a user explicitly instructs it to do so.
What remains to be tested
Anthropic calls Duet an early version. According to The Verge, the company cautions that it may misunderstand a conversation or judge urgency poorly, and that it is less capable at personal errands such as booking tickets. That matters for the professionals and small-business owners The Verge says Duet is designed to serve: its ability to take work off their hands will depend not only on what it can do, but on how reliably it identifies when to ask them first.
Sources
This story was compiled by AI from the reports below. Read the originals for the full details.