Anthropic has introduced a proactive AI agent named Claude Duet, which is built around Claude Opus 5.5 and is designed to help busy professionals and small business owners. Claude Duet is currently available in a research preview version, accessible through a waitlist application, initially targeting Claude Pro and Max subscribers in the United States.
Claude Duet features proactive service and task delegation capabilities, allowing it to automatically discover tasks that need attention from the applications connected by the user, sending reminders before the user prompts it, and continuing to execute tasks even after the user leaves the device. Each morning, it compiles a brief summary of important matters from connected applications; during the day, it checks relevant accounts every few hours, sending notifications only when there is content that requires user attention. Users can also specify what they wish to monitor and the frequency of reminders, with all interactions centered around a continuous conversation that supports both text and voice communication, and can leverage existing memories, skills, and connected applications from the Claude account.
Claude Duet Offers Various Automation Features to Enhance Work Efficiency
Users can delegate tasks to Claude Duet ranging from daily activities such as scheduling meetings and organizing emails to complex tasks like creating dashboards, forecasting sales or financial data, prototyping, and building web applications. Duet operates with its own virtual machine and browser, eliminating the need for the user's computer or phone to remain powered on; notifications are sent when tasks are completed or require user review. It can also access over 6,000 connectors and plugins through Claude Marketplace, such as retrieving Gmail or Slack messages, handling unpaid invoices from QuickBooks or Stripe, and preparing payroll or contracts.
For important operations involving sending messages, making payments, signing documents, or deleting content, Claude Duet first displays the specific content it intends to execute and waits for user approval; certain operations will not be executed even if approved, such as securities trading and inter-account transfers. Anthropic states that Duet will not directly see the user's passwords or login tokens and has additional classification and leak prevention mechanisms for sensitive information; highly sensitive information such as credit card numbers and government identification will be intercepted, and health or personal financial information will only be sent when explicitly requested by the user.
Claude Duet provides standalone iOS, Android applications, and a web interface, sharing usage quotas with the user's existing Claude plan; background checks will also count against the quota, with more complex tasks consuming more resources. Currently, it operates separately from the main Claude application and may still misjudge the urgency of emails or tasks, and its handling of personal travel and other lifestyle matters is not yet as mature as for work tasks, with users temporarily unable to view its browser operation processes.