The real magic behind Claude Cowork

Anthropic just released Claude Cowork, an AI agent on your computer. On social media, people will pretend it's the greatest innovation since fire. Here's what they won't tell you.

Claude Cowork runs with an AI model that has access to your local computer and can use different tools to complete tasks - MCP, Skills, Artifacts. It's designed to help people complete non-technical tasks on a computer, like browse the web, read your local files, check your calendar and read your emails.

Soon people will start to realise that many of the tasks they do on a daily basis can be automated with Claude. Instead of clicking 10 times, simply tell Claude to do it and it'll get done. It can go on Google, sign in to your apps and do what you need. The speed at which tasks can be completed will increase significantly. People will be amazed at how well it works and how reliable it can be. Eventually this will lead them to realise that so much of their job can, and has been automated away.

To many people this will seem like a pivotal moment in tech, the first iteration of Jarvis from Iron Man. But really, this is nothing new. This is tech we've had for months. Anthropic simply packaged it in such a way that the average person can use these tools.

What's truly significant about this release will be lost to most, and it's the following:

1. Claude Cowork is months old. If you are impressed by this, you need to understand you are far, far behind what is possible with AI.

2. Claude Cowork was built in ~1.5 weeks. The speed at which you can build software now is incomprehensible to most.

3. Claude Cowork was built entirely with AI.

4. Claude Cowork is a sign of what’s to come, with AI being able to do anything on a computer.

What people will miss is that we are already at a point where AI can produce significantly useful and production ready software, that can be used by millions and create real opportunity and efficiencies in the real world. AI is making AI products, and it's making them faster and better than humans.

Companies and people have been building with this level of tech for months. This is your only advantage. To use this bleeding edge technology to get ahead of your competitors. To build software faster than anyone else.

By the end of this year, AI will be able to complete any task on a computer. What will this mean for work, businesses and the people they employ? Society is not ready for this kind of technology to be readily accessible. People say that new jobs will be created, but no one can specify what they are. Change is coming. Best prepare now than face the brutal reality of innovation in 12 months.

…

If this technology already existed, how do I use it?

Simple. Install and run Claude Code or Codex. That’s it. Have fun. I’ll be writing about how to best use these very soon.

^{Written by a human named Nofil}