Claude Code and Cowork now let Anthropic's AI take control of your Mac or Windows desktop

Anthropic added a feature that lets Claude directly operate a user's computer to perform typical desk tasks.

Claude first tries existing integrations (Slack, calendars, other connected apps) and only takes full desktop control as a fallback, not by default.

The capability is a research preview in Claude Cowork and Claude Code, currently limited to macOS; in the Windows app it’s available to Pro and Max users (update: April 3, 2026).

Anthropic also launched Dispatch for remote control and built the desktop-control tech partly on Vercept AI; co‑founder Kiana Ehsani said the first product shipped in under four weeks after she joined.

Giving AI desktop access raises questions about data privacy, error rates, and controllability, and browser-only operator attempts (e.g., OpenAI’s ChatGPT operator) have faced reliability issues.