Anthropic's New AI Works While You Sleep, Handles 6,000+ Apps

Anthropic just introduced Claude Duet, a new AI agent that doesn't wait for your commands. Instead, it works in the background, monitoring your connected apps and handling tasks automatically. Think of it as a proactive assistant that gives you a morning brief of what's important, then keeps checking in every few hours to flag updates and move work forward.

The big appeal is saving time on repetitive chores. Duet connects to over 6,000 apps like Slack, Gmail, HubSpot, and QuickBooks. For a small business owner, this means you could ask it to find unpaid invoices, draft customer reminders, and organize follow-ups without manually checking each app. It runs in the cloud, so it keeps working even when your computer is off.

But there's a catch: you still have to approve big actions like sending emails, making payments, or deleting content. Some high-stakes moves, like trading stocks, are blocked entirely. Duet also runs on the same usage quota as regular Claude chats, so heavy use could limit your conversations. And it can misread conversations or misjudge what's urgent—meaning you might get too many notifications or miss something important.

For now, Claude Duet is available as a waitlisted research preview for US subscribers on Pro and Max plans. It's a step toward AI that acts more like a colleague than a chatbot, but businesses should review permissions and set clear oversight before letting it handle sensitive data.