With an IPO Brewing, Anthropic Just Launched Its Answer to Meta’s Uber-Popular Muse

The artificial intelligence (AI) industry is changing quickly. Making a chatbot that answers questions is no longer enough to succeed. Technology companies are now competing to build AI assistants that can complete tasks for people. Meta (META) has Muse, OpenAI has Dots, and now Anthropic, an AI research company, wants to compete with them.

On Wednesday, Anthropic introduced Claude Duet, a new AI assistant designed to help people complete work tasks without needing constant instructions. Built using Anthropic's Opus 5.5 AI model, Duet is meant to do more than answer questions. It can take action on its own using apps connected to it. The goal is to help people spend less time dealing with emails, spreadsheets, and long task lists, so they can focus on more important work.

The launch comes as Anthropic is reportedly preparing for a possible initial public offering (IPO) in November. An IPO is when a company first offers its shares for sale to the public. As competition between AI companies grows, investors are watching to see whether Claude Duet can help Anthropic stand out from its powerful competitors.

About Anthropic

Anthropic is based in San Francisco. Since it was founded in 2021, it has grown from a young AI startup into one of the biggest companies in the AI industry. It is best known for Claude, its group of AI chatbots and AI models, and Claude Code, a tool that helps software developers write computer programs. Individual users pay for Claude subscriptions, but most of Anthropic's revenue comes from businesses, especially technology companies.

Strong demand for its products has reportedly helped Anthropic reach an annualized revenue run rate of $67 billion in 2026, less than six years after it started. This means its recent sales were growing at a pace that would equal about $67 billion over a full year. That is very fast growth for a company that is less than 10 years old. Anthropic also works to make AI safer and more dependable, not just useful for work. It is a public benefit corporation, which means it aims to create powerful AI while also dealing with the risks that come with it. Its rapid growth has made it an important company to watch as the AI industry expands.

About Claude Duet—Anthropic Wants to Be Your Coworker, Not Just Your Chatbot

Regular Claude is like a coworker you ask for help when you need an answer, want to write an email, or need to prepare a report. Claude Duet is different because it can keep working after you stop using it. Anthropic wants to go beyond ordinary chatbots and create an AI assistant that actually completes some of your work for you.

Using Anthropic's Opus 5.5 model, Duet is an AI agent that can take action without waiting for every instruction. It uses information saved in your existing Claude account, your preferences, and your connected apps. It can prepare morning updates, point out important changes, arrange meetings, make financial predictions, and even create dashboards and web apps. A dashboard is a screen that shows useful information in one place. Duet works inside its own virtual computer with a web browser. This allows it to keep doing assigned tasks even when your phone or laptop is turned off. Unlike a regular assistant that stops when you leave, Duet can continue working.

Duet can connect to more than 6,000 services and plugins, including Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, and Shopify. These connections are meant to make it easier to handle work across many different tools. Duet also asks for permission before doing important things that could have serious results, such as sending messages or making payments.

For now, Claude Duet is available through a waiting list for eligible U.S. subscribers who have Anthropic's Pro or Max plans. During this early testing period, called a research preview, Anthropic has not announced a separate fee for Duet.

Anthropic is reportedly getting ready for a possible IPO. Offering products that do more than ordinary chatbots could help the company show investors that it has more ways to grow. If Duet can persuade businesses that AI can complete useful tasks instead of only giving good answers, it could become another reason for investors to be interested in Anthropic. In the competition to make AI something people depend on, being intelligent matters, but actually finishing work may matter even more.

How Does It Compare With the Competition?

Meta's Muse is mainly designed for everyday users who want help with personal tasks. OpenAI's Dots also focuses on projects that continue over time, connected apps, and learning what users prefer. What makes Duet different is its focus on helping people get work done, especially professionals, people starting businesses, and small-business owners. However, Duet still has problems. It is an experimental product, meaning it is still being tested. It checks connected accounts every few hours rather than all the time, and it sometimes makes mistakes when deciding which information is important.

Anthropic's Finances: Fast Revenue Growth but Very Large Losses

With Claude Duet joining the competition between AI assistants, Anthropic has given investors another reason to watch the company. But there is another important part of the story besides its new product and its competition with Meta and OpenAI: Anthropic's finances. With a possible IPO coming soon, investors need to look beyond the excitement about AI and understand what the company's financial numbers show. There is a lot to examine.

Anthropic's reported draft S-1 filing, a document companies prepare when planning to sell shares to the public, shows a business growing extremely quickly. Revenue reportedly reached $16.3 billion during the first six months of 2026. That was almost 15 times the $1.1 billion reported during the same period one year earlier. The figures suggest an annual revenue run rate of about $67.2 billion. Growth continued during the third quarter, when revenue increased 45% compared with the previous quarter, reaching $16.8 billion. Anthropic's management also reportedly told possible investors that the company made an adjusted profit during that quarter. An adjusted profit is a measure that leaves out certain costs or accounting items. These numbers show impressive growth, but rising revenue is only one part of the company's financial situation.

Running powerful AI models costs a lot of money, and Anthropic's spending on the computers and systems needed to operate them is increasing as the business grows. Computing and infrastructure costs reportedly reached nearly $9 billion during the first half of 2026, compared with $2.3 billion during the same period a year earlier. The draft filing also describes about $450 billion in cloud computing agreements lasting seven to 10 years. Most of these agreements cannot be canceled. When commitments to buy computer chips are included, Anthropic's reported infrastructure obligations total more than $600 billion. The company also expects to spend another $750 billion to get more computing power, including agreements that are still being discussed.

Another major number is Anthropic's reported $80.7 billion loss during the first half of 2026. However, about $72 billion of that loss reportedly came from financing-related accounting adjustments that did not involve money actually leaving the company. This means the full $80.7 billion should not automatically be treated as cash the company spent. Investors still need to look carefully at Anthropic's operating losses, the money coming into and going out of the business, and the conditions of its financing agreements.

Another risk is that a large share of Anthropic's revenue comes from only a few customers. The company's two biggest customers reportedly provided about 20% of its revenue during the first half of 2026. Anthropic is expected to continue depending heavily on a relatively small group of customers.

Meanwhile, investors have reportedly discussed giving Anthropic a valuation of $1.5 trillion. A valuation is an estimate of how much a company is worth. This is lower than an earlier target of $2 trillion. Neither amount is a final valuation or an agreed share price for Anthropic's possible IPO.

Final Thoughts on Anthropic

Claude Duet gives Anthropic another way to compete with Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dots in the growing market for AI assistants that can complete tasks. But with a possible IPO approaching, Anthropic needs to prove more than its ability to launch a promising new product. Its very fast revenue growth is a positive sign. However, its huge commitments to spending on computing, its dependence on a small number of major customers, and uncertainty about whether it can make steady profits all create challenges. Anthropic has strong growth, advanced technology, and plenty of attention from investors. Now it needs to show that it can turn its success into profits that last.

On the date this article was published, Sristi Suman Jayaswal did not own, either directly or indirectly, any of the investments mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article are provided only to inform readers. For more information, read the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.