Anthropic launches Claude Duet, a proactive AI assistant
Anthropic’s Claude Duet is a proactive AI assistant that works across connected apps and keeps going while you’re away.
Claude Duet is Anthropic’s new always-on AI assistant, designed to keep working across connected apps after you close the app. It is launching as a research preview for Claude Pro and Max subscribers in the US, with access rolling out through a waitlist.12
The assistant is built to handle tasks rather than simply answer one prompt. Anthropic says Claude Duet can work across more than 6,000 connectors and plugins, including email, calendars, Slack, Google Drive, Notion, Stripe and Shopify. It can prepare morning briefs, draft replies, build documents and dashboards, and return to the user when a decision is needed.1
How Claude Duet works
Users can message Claude Duet by text or voice, then hand it larger jobs. Anthropic says the assistant runs on its own cloud-based computer, allowing it to continue working while the user is away. Completed work can arrive as a file to review, such as a research brief, financial model, slide deck or dashboard.1
The product is designed to keep sensitive actions behind an approval step. Claude Duet asks before sending messages, making payments, signing documents or deleting anything, while its Tasks area shows ongoing work and decisions that still need the user’s attention.12
Anthropic says Claude Duet uses the same memories, skills and connectors as the regular Claude app, but changes the relationship from waiting for a chat to proactively surfacing what needs attention. It is available on standalone iOS and Android apps and on the web at claude.ai, with the research preview powered by Claude Opus 5.5.1
The limitations matter. This is a US-only research preview for now, and Team and Enterprise plans are not included. Anthropic also warns that background work counts towards existing usage limits, so larger jobs may consume more of a subscriber’s allowance than ordinary chat.12
Our opinion
Claude Duet is a more interesting AI release than another chatbot button because it tackles the less glamorous problem: remembering what needs doing after the conversation ends. The connector list and approval gates suggest a useful direction, but the waitlist, US-only rollout and usage-limit caveat make this a preview rather than a dependable everyday assistant. The real test will be whether its proactive nudges stay helpful without turning into another inbox to manage.