Anthropic announced the expansion of its AI assistant Claude Cowork to operate via web and smartphones, after being available since last January as a desktop-only application.

Starting Tuesday, Claude Cowork is available to Max plan subscribers, a move reflecting the company's direction to transform it from a programming-focused tool into an intelligent assistant for daily task management within work environments.

A background assistant

The new version allows users to start a task from a computer, then track its progress via phone, and receive the final result later even if the computer is off, according to a report by "TechCrunch" seen by "Al Arabiya Business".

Anthropic says the goal is to provide a digital assistant that works in the background, moves seamlessly between different devices, with the ability to request user intervention when task execution requires a decision that AI cannot make alone.

Competition beyond chatbots

This step reflects the escalating competition among AI companies to move from mere chatbots to productivity tools integrated into daily workflow.

OpenAI is taking a similar path with Codex, which started as a tool to help developers but has also been used for report preparation, creating presentations, data analysis, managing work schedules, and other office tasks.

Observers believe that future competition will not only depend on having the best conversational model, but on providing the platform through which users accomplish their daily work.

Integration with work applications

The expansion comes after the launch of Claude Tag, an assistant that works continuously within the Slack platform, acting as a virtual colleague helping work teams accomplish various tasks.

The company also explained that web and phone support gives Claude Cowork the ability to continue executing tasks in the background without the need for the user's device to stay connected at all times.

The company gave an example: a user can task Claude in the evening to prepare a file for a client meeting at 6 a.m., where it collects emails, analyzes conversations, reviews relevant news, and prepares a full report with a follow-up message draft, ready for review before sending.

Desktop for advanced tasks

Despite the expansion to new platforms, the desktop application will remain the primary choice for more complex tasks, as it has access to local files and the browser.

At the same time, web users will benefit from integrating chats and Cowork tasks into a unified interface, with project and file synchronization across all platforms.

How do employees use Claude Cowork?

Anthropic revealed the first usage statistics for the tool, based on analysis of 1.2 million anonymous usage sessions across more than 600,000 organizations during the last two weeks of May.

The data showed that 33.4% of Claude Cowork usage focused on administrative process management, such as gathering scattered data into a single report, preparing onboarding lists for new employees, and reviewing spreadsheets—tasks common in HR, administration, and finance departments.

Content writing and document preparation came second at 16.4%, including drafting, presentations, posts, proposals, and other marketing and administrative tasks.

Software development, usually seen as the most common use of AI, accounted for only 8.7% of total tool usage.

The company confirmed that the use of AI in daily office work is experiencing rapid growth, noting that its goal is to help organizations integrate these tools into workflows and focus on areas that deliver the most value and productivity.

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