Claude Duet: The AI assistant that takes the initiative

What's new

On October 21, 2026, Anthropic launched Claude Duet. It is an app where Claude doesn't wait for you to ask, but comes to you with whatever needs your attention. Every morning it sends a short brief on the most important items from your connected apps. Every few hours, it checks the apps again and sends a message if something is urgent.

Duet runs exclusively on Claude Opus 5.5, and you can't choose a different model. It is available as a standalone app for iOS and Android and on claude.ai. It can connect to more than 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto, HubSpot, Shopify, Canva, DocuSign, Google Calendar, Drive and Calendly. Microsoft 365 is not currently supported.

What's smart about it

Duet works in the cloud on a virtual machine with its own browser, so it can continue a task while you're away. It can handle administrative chores and larger jobs such as planning, financial forecasts, prototypes and web apps. You can type or talk to it and get finished files such as briefs, models and presentations.

Security is built in. Duet asks for permission before it sends messages, makes payments, signs documents or deletes anything. Passwords are not directly visible to Claude. According to Anthropic, the app also uses two filters designed to catch unintended actions and leaks of sensitive information, and it has undergone external penetration testing and a red team review. This is Anthropic's own information and has not been independently tested.

Cheaper or better?

During the preview, Duet costs Pro and Max subscribers nothing extra. It uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude, and the background checks eat into the subscription's tokens (chunks of text that AI models count in). The monthly price for Pro and Max is not stated in the sources.

Competitor Meta launched its personal agent Muse for users in the US on September 8, 2026. Muse runs on a dedicated cloud computer, works in the background and uses Meta's Muse Spark model. It is free with paid options. Meta itself says that prompt injection, where hidden instructions on a page or in an email try to trick an AI, remains an unsolved problem, even though Muse has separated credentials and a permission system called Sentinel. The sources do not include a direct test of which is better.

What it's good for

Duet suits people who are drowning in emails, bills, appointments and message threads, and who want a digital assistant that tells them when something needs handling. It is also meant for tasks such as financial forecasts, prototypes and web apps.

There are clear limits. Duet can't access local files or projects, make calls or send text messages. It is not allowed to trade securities or move money between accounts. According to Anthropic, personal errands are not yet fully developed.

For Danish readers, there is a clear obstacle: Duet is in research preview, available only via a waitlist and only for Pro and Max subscribers in the US. There is no information about Denmark or the EU. Team and Enterprise plans are not included yet, but Anthropic plans to expand to them later.