Built on second-tier Claude Opus 5.5 — initially available to paid US subscribers

The Anthropic logo. [Reuters]
The Anthropic logo. [Reuters]

Anthropic has unveiled a personal AI agent, joining Meta's "Muse" and OpenAI's "Dots" in the race to build autonomous digital assistants for individual users.

On Thursday (local time), Anthropic released a research preview of "Claude Duet," an AI agent built on its second-tier AI model Claude Opus 5.5. The tool monitors connected data sources and apps on its own, identifying and completing tasks without waiting for step-by-step instructions from the user.

Anthropic said it developed Claude Duet for professionals and small-business owners who manage too many tasks to handle their schedules effectively on their own.

Available through the Claude website and apps for iPhone and Android, Claude Duet is currently accepting sign-ups from US subscribers on paid plans of $20 or more per month. Users can receive daily briefings summarizing key information and instruct the agent to monitor apps such as email and messaging services, sending messages when needed.

Claude Duet continues working on its own virtual computer even when the user's device is turned off or the user steps away. Anthropic said the agent can connect with more than 6,000 apps, including Gmail, workplace messaging service Slack, social network LinkedIn, fintech app Stripe and e-commerce platform Shopify.

The agent can also link to the digital wallets of Stripe and Shopify to make payments directly on the user's behalf.

Anthropic has reinforced safety and security features, requiring explicit user approval before the agent takes sensitive actions such as sending emails, making payments, signing documents or deleting files. High-risk operations — including securities trading and fund transfers — are prohibited outright, even with user approval.

The agent also automatically refuses external requests to share top-tier sensitive information such as credit card numbers and identification numbers, and transmits health and financial data only when explicitly instructed to do so.

However, Anthropic acknowledged that Claude Duet, as an early version, may misread context or misjudge the urgency of a situation.

As major AI developers race to release personal assistant agents, market observers expect token consumption tied to such services to keep growing. Meta's AI agent Muse, in fact, drew wide market attention by recording millions of downloads shortly after its launch.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com