Anthropic introduced Claude Duet on October 21, a proactive AI agent designed to manage tasks, monitor connected apps and bring important decisions to users. Powered by Claude Opus 5.5, it is launching through a research-preview waitlist for US Claude Pro and Max subscribers, with access through standalone iOS and Android apps and the web. Source: Anthropic’s announcement.

The product moves Claude beyond conversations that begin with a prompt. Duet can prepare work in the background, follow up on ongoing tasks and notify users when something needs their attention.

From Morning Briefs to Business Tasks

Anthropic’s product demonstration follows Maya, a business owner preparing for an investor meeting while opening a new location. Duet organizes outstanding work, updates presentation materials and separates tasks it can prepare from decisions requiring her approval.

In another demonstration, it builds a business dashboard and flags rising subscription cancellations after a shipping-price change. It then proposes investigating the cause and testing a different shipping offer.

These are company demonstrations, rather than independent evidence of reliable performance across businesses. But they show the intended workflow: identify an issue, prepare the next step and bring the decision back to the user. Source: Claude Duet product page.

Your Devices Can Switch Off; Approval Still Matters

Duet runs on a cloud virtual machine with its own browser, allowing work to continue when a user’s phone or laptop is off. It carries over memory, skills and connected apps from an existing Claude account.

Anthropic says users must approve actions such as sending messages, making payments, signing documents and deleting content. Securities trading and transfers between accounts remain prohibited even with approval. Source: Anthropic’s announcement.

That distinction matters for business use. Preparing an invoice reminder and sending it to a customer are separate steps, with the latter still requiring the user’s decision.

Always Available Does Not Mean Unlimited

Duet is included in eligible subscriptions during the preview, but it shares their usage limits. Background checks and larger tasks consume that allowance. Anthropic says connected accounts are typically checked every few hours, so the service should not be treated as continuous, real-time monitoring.

Team and Enterprise plans are not included at launch. Anthropic also acknowledges that Duet can misread conversations, misjudge urgency or miss developments between checks. Source: Product FAQ.

Duet’s appeal is straightforward: fewer scattered tasks for users to chase themselves. The real test is whether it saves more work than it creates for users to check.

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