Anthropic Launches Claude Duet, a Proactive AI Agent That Works in the Background

On Wednesday, Anthropic introduced Claude Duet, a separate app powered by artificial intelligence (AI). It works in the background on a user's behalf and points out what needs attention without waiting for the user to ask. The launch increases competition with OpenAI and Meta, as all three companies try to sell AI assistants that can work on their own.

The app is available on iOS, Android and claude.ai as an early research preview. People must join a waiting list to get access. At first, it is available only to US subscribers with Pro and Max plans. It uses the same usage limits those customers already have. Anthropic built Duet using its Opus 5.5 model, which was released in late September.

Duet gives users a morning report about activity across their connected apps. It also sends messages when something needs attention. It can manage schedules, predict future finances and build web apps. It connects to more than 6,000 tools and services through the Claude Marketplace, including Gmail and Slack. Users can also make purchases through Stripe's Link digital wallet and Shopify's Shop Pay.

Anthropic said Duet asks users for permission before taking sensitive actions. The company also admitted that Duet may get the urgency of a task wrong. It is also less capable at personal tasks, such as booking tickets.

"It can have the discernment and judgment around when to be proactive, when to act on your behalf," Mike Krieger, a co-lead of Anthropic's Labs team, said in a video announcing the launch.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Karan Ahuja led Duet's development. He managed product work for Meta Superintelligence Labs until July and joined Anthropic in August. On X, he wrote that he had been using Duet to build Duet. He said the team "built it for professionals and small business owners juggling a lot at work and at home." He also said Anthropic was letting people off the waiting list "as quickly as possible."

Duet launched on the same day Meta reported its earnings, making the rivalry between the companies clear. Alexandr Wang, who leads Meta Superintelligence Labs, shared a meme highlighting similarities between Duet and Meta's Muse agent. Apptopia estimates that Muse had been installed more than 14 million times as of Wednesday.

OpenAI entered this market last month with its always-on "dots" agents. These agents work toward users' goals across apps such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. For now, Anthropic's product is limited by its waiting list, so it is not yet competing for the wider market on the same scale as these products.

Recent improvements in AI models have helped these systems complete more work on their own. This has led AI companies to rush to release personal agents that can keep working in the background. Anthropic is also moving toward a major initial public offering (IPO), which could value the company at as much as $2 trillion. This raises the stakes as companies compete for users, computing power and the most advanced AI models.

For companies that make business software and productivity tools, Duet's connections to other services could help Anthropic's marketplace bring more customers to outside providers. Its partnerships with Stripe and Shopify also bring AI agents closer to handling payments and purchases. For investors, the launch provides another point of comparison ahead of Anthropic's planned stock market listing. It also shows how quickly features that let AI agents work independently are becoming expected parts of products, rather than special features that set them apart.