By PYMNTS | October 21, 2026
Anthropic has unveiled an app in which Claude works as a “proactive agent” on behalf of professionals and small business owners, including purchasing business supplies, the company said in a Wednesday (Oct. 21) announcement.
In this app, Claude Duet, Claude comes to the user when something needs attention, completes tasks the user has requested, keeps working even when the user steps away and checks with the user before acting on their behalf, according to the announcement.
“What makes Claude Duet so helpful is its judgment,” Anthropic said in the announcement. “We designed it around Claude Opus 5.5 and built it to be resourceful and to decide what needs you, what can wait and when to check with you first.”
Anthropic made Claude Duet available by waitlist to Pro and Max subscribers in the U.S. on Wednesday.
We’d love to be your preferred source for news.
Please add us to your preferred sources list so our news, data and interviews show up in your feed. Thanks!
Claude Duet accesses the user’s memory, skills and connected apps from their Claude account for context; works even when the user’s laptop or phone is off; delivers notifications when the task is complete or needs the user’s review; checks connected accounts periodically and messages the user when something requires attention; waits for approval before sending a message, making a payment, signing a document or deleting anything; and uses the more than 6,000 connectors and plug-ins in the Claude Marketplace to connect with tools, according to the announcement.
“You can also use Claude Duet to purchase things for your business using Link, Stripe‘s digital wallet,” Anthropic said in the announcement. “Claude Duet confirms the item with you, and Link asks you to approve the spend. It then pays with a virtual card, so your real card number isn’t shared. It can use Shop Pay from Shopify to check out at online stores.”
There have been a series of announcements about personal AI agents.
Meta’s Muse was downloaded more than 10 million times in the United States and Canada during the first 35 days it was available, according to a Monday (Oct. 19) announcement by digital market insights platform Sensor Tower.
OpenAI launched dots on Sept. 29, saying these AI agents are “built to handle everything.”
Instinct, the builder of a personal AI agent for everyday life, said Sept. 28 that it was valued at $10 billion as it raised $1 billion in Series C funding.
xAI announced Sept. 26 that its Grok Bot can now connect to the user’s finances in read-only mode to help manage spending and investments.