Anthropic is expanding its Claude Cowork agent beyond the desktop. Initially launched in January as a standalone app, Cowork will now be available on the web and mobile for Max subscribers starting Tuesday. This update lets users kick off a task on their computer, receive status updates on their phone, and pick up the final output later—even with the laptop shut.

The move signals Anthropic’s broader ambition: repositioning Cowork less as a coding assistant and more as an administrative AI teammate that runs in the background, syncs across devices, and steps in only when human judgment is needed. In short, the coding-agent battle is spilling into the wider office.

This rollout comes as AI labs push beyond chatbots into the everyday tools where work actually happens. OpenAI’s Codex, for instance, began as a developer tool but is now increasingly used by non-coders for reports, spreadsheets, presentations, research, and data analysis. For both companies, the bet is clear—success will hinge less on who has the smarter chatbot and more on who owns the workspace.

Anthropic is also extending this strategy elsewhere, recently launching Claude Tag, an always-on Slack companion. Beyond interface convenience, making Cowork cross-platform allows it to run background tasks without requiring an active device, the company says. One example: “Set Monday’s client prep for 6 a.m.—Claude combs through email threads, transcripts, and recent news, drafts the briefing, and leaves a follow-up email ready for review over coffee.”

The desktop app remains the hub for deep work, with access to local files and the browser. But the web and mobile versions open Cowork to users who never installed the app. Anthropic notes that chat and cowork features will unify across platforms, with projects and artifacts synced seamlessly.

Newly released data from 1.2 million anonymous Cowork sessions (late May, across 600,000+ organizations) reveals its clearest value: handling the “work around work”—tasks that keep businesses running but rarely fall under a single role’s primary duties.

• Business process operations (33.4%): consolidating updates, creating onboarding checklists, reconciling spreadsheets—common in finance, HR, and admin.
• Content creation and copywriting (16.4%): drafting slides, social posts, proposals, and other communications—typical in marketing and management.
• Software development (8.7%): notably smaller by comparison.

“Coding still gets much of the spotlight, but daily enterprise AI use is rising fast, and the tasks people find most useful are becoming clearer,” Anthropic said. “We want this to serve as a benchmark for integrating AI into everyday work and to highlight where real value is accumulating.”

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