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Another Day. Another AI Bot. Meet Claude Duet.

Claude Duet promises to prepare work across your apps and keep going after you close the laptop. A look at what it does, who can access it, and how much supervision it might need.

Whiteboard cartoon of Aaron Murray in his red flat cap holding an approval stamp while a blue robot labeled Duet presents work ready for review, with email, calendar, and document icons behind it.

Another day. Another AI bot.

At this rate, my AI assistants are going to need their own onboarding department.

The latest arrival is Claude Duet. Anthropic opened its research preview on October 21, aimed at professionals and small business owners.

The pitch: connect the apps you work in, tell it what needs doing, and let it keep working while you get on with your day.

Here’s what that actually means:

  • A morning rundown. Duet reviews connected email and calendar information, pulls together what needs your attention, and can start drafting replies.
  • Work across your apps. It can use connections such as Gmail, Google Calendar, HubSpot, QuickBooks, and Stripe. Think meeting preparation, customer follow-ups, and drafts of overdue invoice reminders.
  • More than a quick reply. Anthropic says it can build research briefs, slide decks, dashboards, and forecasts.
  • Work that continues after you leave. It runs on a computer in the cloud with its own browser. Your laptop can be closed.
  • A human approval step. It is designed to ask before sending messages, making payments, signing documents, or deleting information.

That last part gets my attention. Prepare the work. Show me what you’re about to do. Let me make the call.

A few details matter before everyone starts hiring their new digital employee.

Duet has its own iOS and Android app and is also available through the web. Access is currently by waitlist for U.S. Claude Pro and Max subscribers. Team and Enterprise plans are not included yet.

There is no additional Duet charge during the preview, but it shares your existing Claude usage limits. Those background check-ins count too.

It also checks accounts periodically, so it can miss something urgent between checks. Microsoft 365 is not supported yet, and Anthropic acknowledges it can misread a conversation or get priorities wrong.

This overview is based on Anthropic’s announcement and documentation.

I can see the appeal of talking through a task on my morning walk and coming back to something ready to review. Especially if it saves me from opening six apps to prepare one customer follow-up.

But the test for me is pretty simple: how much work actually comes off my plate?

A new app icon is easy. Earning a place in somebody’s day is harder.

How much supervision would you accept before an AI assistant stops saving you time?

Originally posted on claude.com. Join the conversation there.

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