Anthropic Launches Claude Cowork
Narrative
General-purpose desktop AI agent described as "Claude Code for the rest of your work." Lets users designate folders where Claude can read, edit, and create files autonomously. Research preview for Max subscribers on macOS. Built on Claude Agent SDK.
Reality
Launched January 12-13, 2026. Built by four-person team in approximately 10 days, largely using Claude Code itself. Expanded to Pro subscribers Jan 16, Team/Enterprise Jan 23. Use cases: expense reports from receipt photos, file organization, document drafting from scattered notes. Described as "less like a back-and-forth and more like leaving messages for a coworker."
Implication
Shifted Anthropic from chat-based AI to autonomous desktop agent. Directly competed with Microsoft Copilot for enterprise productivity. Demonstrated AI-accelerated development (AI building the next AI tool). Set foundation for plugin ecosystem and SaaS disruption wave.