Claude Cowork is now available on smartphones and the web. Anthropic brings its AI agent off the computer

Claude Cowork is moving from the desktop to the smartphone. Anthropic is extending its smart assistant to mobile and the web, removing one of the main limitations of the first version: until now, users had to have their computer switched on with the desktop app running. From now on, the agent operates directly in the company’s cloud and follows the user from one device to another, keeping sessions, documents and projects synchronised. It is launching in beta for Max users, whilst the roll-out to other plans will take place over the coming weeks.

This shift is less straightforward than it seems. It is not simply a matter of bringing a chatbot onto your phone. Anthropic is transforming Claude into an agent that continues to work even when the computer is switched off. Tasks can be scheduled and are carried out on the company’s servers, without the need to leave a personal device switched on. It’s a paradigm shift. Artificial intelligence no longer waits in front of the screen alongside the user. It carries on working behind the scenes and only returns to seek attention when confirmation is needed before completing a task.

This development brings AI closer to being a collaborator rather than simply a response engine. Anthropic has also decided to merge Chat and Cowork into a single interface. Conversations, projects and artefacts all share the same workspace. This is a way of blurring the line between dialogue with the assistant and the actual execution of tasks.

The company has accompanied the launch with an interesting statistic. According to a new analysis of Claude Cowork usage, over 90 per cent of activities relate to so-called ‘knowledge work’. Document analysis, research, summarising, organising information and content creation clearly outstrip software development, which until now had been considered the natural domain of language model-based assistants. This is a sign of the times. The real battle for artificial intelligence is not being fought solely amongst programmers, but in offices where reports, presentations, contracts and decisions are produced.

Anthropic’s move comes as competition among the major AI labs shifts from chatbots to agents. The difference is substantial. A chatbot answers a question. An agent is given a goal and attempts to achieve it autonomously by planning a sequence of actions.