Anthropic continues to make steady progress in the field of AI, and its latest major announcement is clear evidence of this advancement. The technology company has just launched a new feature that enables Claude to take control of your computer in order to perform the tasks you delegate. Individuals subscribed to Pro and Max plans on the macOS version may now begin testing this capability with Claude Cowork and Claude Code Desktop. The Windows version is expected to be enabled in the coming weeks.
This is a capability on which Anthropic has been working for quite some time. In fact, in October 2024, it was made available to developers in a public beta to allow them to test the feature and provide feedback.
This new capability will allow Claude’s AI to understand and control your computer by acting on the cursor, keyboard, and screen, and thus navigate and open any application. In this manner, you may request Claude’s assistance to conduct research, open and edit specific files, populate spreadsheets with data, review your email, debug a native application on which you are working, or execute complex software tasks, among other potential uses.
It is important to highlight that Claude prioritizes the use of direct connectors via API for interacting with tools such as Slack or Google Calendar, as this method is faster, more accurate, and more secure when exchanging data through internal code. Should the requested task require a tool that does not have official integration, Claude will request your permission to open that application directly on your screen.
While this is a noteworthy advancement, Anthropic has chosen not to “oversell” and has acknowledged that this capability remains quite underdeveloped, meaning it may be slow and inefficient. This was candidly stated by Felix Rieseberg, head of engineering for Claude Cowork and Claude Code Desktop, in a thread on Twitter: “The entire scope of computer usage is still in its infancy; Claude will progress slowly and deliberately, at a much slower pace than a human today… It is slow, but giving my mouse and keyboard to Claude is immensely exciting to me.”
Recently, Anthropic introduced Dispatch, a remote control system that allows you to send instructions from Claude’s mobile application to be executed directly on the version of Claude installed on your computer.
Now, with the integration of computer control capabilities into Claude, Dispatch becomes even more useful, as you can assign tasks to the AI from your mobile device so they may be carried out autonomously on your computer, even if you are far away or not present.
In this way, Dispatch serves as the control and messaging center. From the mobile or web application, you send a complex instruction. Rather than processing the response solely as text, Dispatch locates your computer (which must be turned on and have an active Claude session) and transfers the task. Once the order reaches your system, the computer usage capability is activated. Claude assumes control of the operating system, opens the necessary applications, moves the cursor, and carries out the programmed actions.
Photo: Anthropic
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