Anthropic launches Claude Duet, a proactive AI agent aimed at Meta and OpenAI rivals

Anthropic introduced Claude Duet, a new app described as a “proactive agent” that can run in the background, surface tasks to users, and handle a range of work. The product is currently in research preview with a waitlist, so it is not yet broadly competing in the market. The launch places Anthropic more directly into the fast-growing personal AI agent category.

Anthropic says Duet can send users a morning brief about activity across connected apps and message them when something needs attention. Like other agent-style tools, it runs outside a user’s computer, sends notifications, and asks for approval on certain tasks. Mike Krieger, a co-lead of Anthropic’s Labs team, said in a launch video that the tool can have “discernment and judgment” about when to be proactive and when to act on a user’s behalf.

Business Insider frames Duet as Anthropic’s answer to Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots. Anthropic says Duet is built around its flagship Opus 5.5 model, released in late September. The product reflects a broader push by AI companies to build “always-on” agents as models improve at handling work more independently.

Karan Ahuja, who led product management for Meta Superintelligence Labs until July according to his LinkedIn, joined Anthropic in August and led Duet’s development. He wrote on X that the team built Duet for “professionals and small business owners juggling a lot at work and at home.” The launch drew attention from Meta, where Alexandr Wang posted a meme about Duet’s similarity to Muse.