Anthropic releases Claude computer use feature to compete with OpenClaw
Anthropic announced Monday that Claude can now complete tasks on users' computers, including opening apps, navigating browsers, and filling spreadsheets, after receiving prompts from a smartphone. The feature positions Anthropic directly against OpenClaw, the viral AI agent that went mainstream this year. The capability comes with safeguards requiring Claude to request permission before accessing new applications.
Anthropic releases Claude computer use feature to compete with OpenClaw
Anthropic announced Monday that Claude can now complete tasks on users' computers, marking a significant push into autonomous AI agents. Users can message Claude from a smartphone with a task, and the AI will execute it on their computer without further intervention.
The capability enables Claude to open applications, navigate web browsers, and fill in spreadsheets. In a demonstration video, Anthropic showed Claude exporting a PowerPoint presentation as a PDF and attaching it to a calendar meeting invite after a single user request.
Direct competition with OpenClaw
The release positions Anthropic directly against OpenClaw, which went viral earlier this year. OpenClaw, which integrates models from both OpenAI and Anthropic, allows users to send commands through WhatsApp and Telegram to complete computer tasks locally on their devices.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called OpenClaw "definitely the next ChatGPT" last week. The chip company subsequently announced NemoClaw, an enterprise version of the technology. OpenAI has accelerated its own agent development, hiring OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger last month to "drive the next generation of personal agents."
Safety constraints acknowledged
Anthropic emphasized that computer use "is still early compared to Claude's ability to code or interact with text." The company stated that Claude will always request permission before accessing new applications and that safeguards are designed "to minimize risk," though it acknowledged that "threats are constantly evolving."
The feature integrates with Dispatch, a conversational tool released last week in Claude Cowork that allows continuous Claude interactions across phone and desktop devices with task assignment capabilities.
What this means
The agentic AI market is rapidly consolidating around a handful of players. Anthropic's move signals that computer-control capabilities are now table stakes for enterprise AI deployment. However, the company's cautious language about safety suggests technical limitations remain—Claude's computer use lags its text and coding abilities. The race between Anthropic, OpenAI, and Nvidia's ecosystem partners reflects genuine uncertainty about which architecture will dominate autonomous task execution in the enterprise space.
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