Anthropic has unveiled Claude Duet, an always-on AI agent that monitors workplace services, prioritises tasks and carries out routine work while users are away from their devices.
Anthropic has launched Claude Duet, a research preview of a proactive agent designed to keep working while a user is away from the keyboard. The company said the system is built on Claude Opus 5.5 and is intended to help busy professionals and small business owners sort through competing demands, prioritise work and reduce the amount of routine decision-making they face each day.
According to Anthropic, Duet starts the day by pulling together summaries from connected services such as Gmail and Slack, then continues to monitor those apps through the day. Rather than interrupting constantly, it is meant to alert users only when something needs attention. The company says the product is also able to use connectors and plug-ins through the Claude Marketplace, extending its reach beyond the core chat interface.
The agent can also be instructed to carry out specific tasks, including scheduling meetings, handling administrative work and supporting software development. Anthropic says Duet runs inside a virtual machine with its own browser, which allows it to keep operating after a laptop or phone has been closed. That design places it closer to an always-on workplace assistant than a conventional chatbot.
Anthropic has also put unusual emphasis on guardrails. The company says Duet uses a dedicated classifier and system prompt to reduce the risk of leaking sensitive information. It is designed to refuse requests to share credit card details or identity documents, while messages and emails are checked for recipients before anything is sent. Other sensitive topics, such as health or household finances, are only meant to be shared externally when a user explicitly instructs the system to do so. Duet is being offered through the web, iOS and Android, but access is restricted to Pro and Max subscribers in the United States and requires a place on a waiting list.
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