Anthropic bets on agent app Claude Duet

The AI world is flooded with personal and productivity-based assistants, with new ones launching every week. Anthropic is entering this battle with a new app called Claude Duet, aimed at rivaling Meta Muse, OpenAI Dots, Hark, Instinct, Grok Bot, and Fo. This new agent is designed to cater to professionals and small businesses, helping them automate and manage tasks. Anthropic distinguishes Duet from personal agents like Instinct by noting that it isn’t good at handling errands or booking tickets, and it can’t show users its browser use as it happens.

Instead, Duet can build a daily briefing for its users, create dashboards, or suggest actions based on the user’s data. Like other agents, Duet can complete tasks in the background through its own virtual machine while the user handles other things, then come back to the user if it needs their approval. The launch arrives as the market shifts beyond AI assistants to agents that can work on users’ behalf. Many of Anthropic’s rivals are focusing on business use cases, with Meta’s Muse being a personal AI assistant but also having a version for small businesses with connections to other apps.

OpenAI’s Dots has a business slant as well, with its integration with professional tools. Anthropic says Duet proactively delivers its recommendations as it monitors ongoing tasks. Built on the Claude Opus 5.5 model, Duet can connect to over 6,000 connectors and plug-ins in the Claude Marketplace. It can also make online purchases on users’ behalf via Stripe’s Link digital wallet or Shopify’s Shop Pay.

The company said that, by default, the agent would turn down requests asking for credit card numbers and government identification. Claude Duet is available as an app on iOS and Android, and on the web through Claude.ai for Pro and Max customers in research preview. Users have to join a waitlist to try it.

Anthropic also released a new classifier to check each message to prevent sensitive information from leaking out. It said that sensitive steps like payments would require user approval. However, Duet won’t trade securities or move money between accounts.