New player joins the AI agent race! Anthropic launches Claude Duet preview to challenge OpenAI and Meta

Zhitong APP has learned that Anthropic announced on Wednesday the launch of the Claude Duet preview. This is an AI agent product aimed at small businesses and professionals, and is expected to compete with OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse. Anthropic introduced that Claude Duet can send users daily briefings, continuously monitor connected applications, and perform a range of tasks such as building dashboards, scheduling meetings, and creating financial forecasts. The company said in a blog post that the agent proactively prompts users about which matters need attention, completes tasks assigned by users, and continues working while users are away, while confirming before taking actions on behalf of users. The launch of Claude Duet comes as rival products are beginning to gain user traction. Meta calls its Muse a "personal AI agent," and the product quickly rose to the top of Apple's App Store after launching last month; OpenAI launched its "always-on agent" Dots at its annual developer conference a few weeks later. In terms of market positioning, Meta is mainly promoting its agent product to consumers, while OpenAI's product serves both enterprise and consumer markets. Anthropic said on Wednesday that because Claude Duet is mainly aimed at work scenarios, personal matters such as booking tickets are "less strong." Anthropic and OpenAI have long been fierce competitors, and over the past year the two sides have frequently released competing models and vied for enterprise market share. Meta, meanwhile, is adjusting its AI strategy and spending billions of dollars to compete in frontier areas. With the rise of personal AI agents, Meta hopes to benefit from this momentum. Meta reported third-quarter earnings after the U.S. market close on Wednesday, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts that over the past month and a half, more than 10 million people in the United States and Canada have "set up the Muse personal agent." Muse's initial success helped Meta close out September with its best monthly stock market performance since 2022. Anthropic said on Wednesday that Claude Duet is still in an early stage and may "misread conversational cues or misjudge urgency." The company opened the Claude Duet waitlist the same day, saying eligible users can access it through a standalone app or the Claude website; during the preview period, Pro and Max subscribers can use the product.