Anthropic Opens Research Preview of Proactive Claude Duet Agent

CONTESTED: None found. Anthropic on October 21, 2026 opened a U.S. waitlist research preview of Claude Duet for Claude Pro and Max subscribers. It runs on Opus 5.5 as a standalone app on iOS and Android and on claude.ai. Anthropic said: "It comes to you with what needs your attention, completes tasks you ask of it, keeps working even when you step away, and checks with you before it acts on your behalf." Duet connects to more than 6,000 services including Gmail and Slack. Sending, paying, signing, and deleting need user approval first. Purchases use Link via a virtual card and Shop Pay. Anthropic says the agent never directly sees passwords or sign-in tokens; a classifier blocks sharing of credit card numbers and government ID. Trading securities and moving money between accounts are off-limits even with approval. Usage counts toward existing plan limits. Anthropic said Duet might misread a thread or miscalibrate what is urgent and that personal errands are not quite as strong. Meta reported Q3 earnings after the bell the same day, with Zuckerberg citing Muse user numbers, as the product competes with agents from OpenAI and Meta. Access is waitlist-only for eligible U.S. subscribers.