Why AI Companies Want to Take Control of Your Computer |
In 2024, Anthropic tested out a feature called “computer use,” a tool that could “try to manipulate a computer desktop environment,” clicking and scrolling on a user’s behalf. At the time, LLM use was mostly limited to what you could accomplish in direct conversation with chatbots, which had little access to outside tools (at the time, Claude didn’t even have access to the web). Giving Claude the ability to move a cursor, input text, and interact with an operating system and apps offered a much broader vision for the future of AI capability than the one suggested by closed-circuit chatbots of the time, such as ChatGPT, suggesting the possibility of automating working routines and engaging with the digital world by emulating a person: a self-driving computer.
We're trying something fundamentally new.Instead of making specific tools to help Claude complete individual tasks, we're teaching it general computer skills—allowing it to use a wide range of standard tools and software programs designed for people. pic.twitter.com/42u8VeTvXd— Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) October 22, 2024
We're trying something fundamentally new.Instead of making specific tools to help Claude complete individual tasks, we're teaching it general computer skills—allowing it to use a wide range of standard tools and software programs designed for people. pic.twitter.com/42u8VeTvXd
In 2024, as Anthropic suggested at the time, the feature wasn’t really ready for productive use — it was genuinely crazy to watch work but also slow, error-prone, and prone to quickly losing track of what it was doing — intended instead as a compelling demo and way to get “feedback from developers” about the sorts of things they want their AI to do. Not quite two very eventful years later, the company is again focusing on computer use, this time with more credibility, more capability, and quite a bit more attention:
You can now enable Claude to use your computer to complete tasks.It opens your apps, navigates your browser, fills in spreadsheets—anything you'd do sitting at your desk.Research preview in Claude Cowork and Claude Code, macOS only. pic.twitter.com/sVymgmtEMI— Claude (@claudeai) March 23, 2026
You can now enable Claude to use your computer to complete tasks.It opens your apps, navigates your browser, fills in spreadsheets—anything you'd do sitting at your desk.Research preview in Claude Cowork and Claude........