In six weeks, three of the biggest AI companies launched the same idea. Meta’s Muse came first on 8 September, then OpenAI’s Dots on 29 September, then Anthropic’s Claude Duet on 21 October. Each one is an assistant that works without being asked. It runs on its own computer in the cloud and messages you first when something in your email or apps needs attention.
Our verdict for a UK business owner is to watch, not buy. None of the three personal versions is available to UK users yet, and the two you can get here both need a business plan. And an assistant is only as useful as the systems it can reach. That is the part worth working on while you wait.
What is actually new
Chatbots answer when you ask. These do the asking. Anthropic describes Claude Duet as sending a short brief each morning, checking your connected apps every few hours, and messaging you “only when something needs your attention”. It can handle admin such as scheduling, and build larger pieces of work such as a dashboard or a forecast on its own cloud machine while you get on with your day.
The reach is new too. Duet can use more than 6,000 connectors and plugins from the Claude Marketplace, including Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe and HubSpot. OpenAI’s help centre describes each dot as an always-on agent that “has its own cloud computer” and keeps making progress between conversations.
So are the safety promises, which are more specific than before. Duet shows you the action and waits for your approval before it sends, pays, signs or deletes anything, and Anthropic says it “never directly sees your passwords or sign-in tokens”. Meta runs a second agent, which it calls the Sentinel, alongside Muse: “Nothing Muse does reaches the internet unless the Sentinel approves it.”
Which ones a UK business can use
Availability is the first filter. We checked each company’s own announcement and help pages, and it removes most of them.
| Assistant | Launched | UK? |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Duet (Anthropic) | 21 October 2026, research preview | No. US Pro and Max subscribers only, by waitlist, and not on Team or Enterprise plans yet |
| Dots (OpenAI) | 29 September 2026 | Not on the personal Pro plan in the UK. Available in the UK on the Business Premium plan, with the first dot included |
| Muse (Meta) | 8 September 2026, with a small business version from 29 September | No. Meta describes it as available in the US and Canada |
| Copilot Cowork (Microsoft) | Generally available from 16 June 2026 | Yes. Microsoft says it is available worldwide. It needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, and each task is billed on top by usage |
Google’s equivalent, Gemini Spark, began as a beta for its top-tier Google AI Ultra subscribers in the United States.
The pattern is clear. The personal versions arrive in the US first. The ones built for businesses, with admin controls and business data terms, cost more, and they are the ones you can get here.
What they still get wrong
The companies are candid about the limits, which helps. Anthropic says Duet “may misread a thread or miscalibrate what’s urgent”, that personal errands are weaker than work tasks, and that it does not yet support Microsoft 365. Claire Vo reviewed it on Lenny’s Newsletter on launch day, under the title “Claude Duet is beautiful. I still forgot to use it”. The review called it the most polished agent launch its author had seen, and found it not proactive enough to become a habit.
Security is the bigger question for a business. These assistants hold your email and files on a machine in the cloud. On 25 September, Reuters reported, citing The Information’s reading of an internal Meta incident report, that an outside researcher had found a flaw through Meta’s bug bounty scheme that could have let an attacker into a user’s dedicated cloud machine, which holds their emails and files. Meta initially classified it as SEV-2, its third-highest severity level, and is adding a clearer safety warning inside Muse.
The part that decides whether they help you
An assistant that checks your apps can only check the apps it can connect to. If your quotes live in a spreadsheet on one person’s laptop and your jobs sit in a system with no way in, the smartest assistant in the world will see an empty desk. It will send you a cheerful morning brief about your calendar and miss everything that matters.
That is why the useful work this month has nothing to do with choosing an assistant. It is getting your business into a state any of them could work with, which we cover in more detail in why your systems don’t talk to each other.
The account you use matters as much. Duet runs on Anthropic’s Pro and Max plans, which Anthropic classes as consumer products. Its business data terms apply to its commercial plans, which by default do not use your inputs or outputs to train its models. Before any assistant goes near company email or customer data, check which terms it runs under. We have written about why the account type matters for ChatGPT, and the same logic applies here.
How many businesses this touches
Fewer than the launch coverage suggests. The Office for National Statistics reported on 8 October 2026 that around 3 in 10 UK businesses used at least one type of AI technology in September 2026, up from 9% when it first asked in September 2023. For businesses with 250 or more employees the figure was 51%. The ONS says it is still exploring how to measure agentic workflows.
None of that means these assistants will not matter. It means the businesses that get value from them will be the ones whose systems were ready, not the ones who signed up first.
What to do this month
Keep company accounts out of personal previews. If you join a US waitlist on a personal plan, test it on your own email, not the business’s.
Write down three jobs you would hand over, such as chasing unpaid invoices, sorting the morning inbox or preparing a weekly sales summary, and the things it must never do without asking.
List where the information for those jobs lives, and whether each system can be connected. Duet connects to Gmail today but not yet to Microsoft 365, and a spreadsheet saved on one laptop connects to nothing.
If you already pay for Microsoft 365 Copilot or ChatGPT Business Premium, you can trial Copilot Cowork or a dot now. Start with one person, admin controls switched on, and nothing that can pay or send without approval.
Frequently asked questions
What is Claude Duet?
Claude Duet is Anthropic’s proactive AI assistant, launched as a research preview on 21 October 2026. It sends a morning brief, checks your connected apps every few hours, works on tasks on its own cloud machine, and asks for approval before it sends, pays, signs or deletes anything.
Is Claude Duet available in the UK?
Not yet. At launch it was open only to Pro and Max subscribers in the US, by waitlist, and not on Team or Enterprise plans. Anthropic had not announced a UK date at launch.
What is OpenAI Dots?
Dots is OpenAI’s always-on assistant, launched on 29 September 2026. Each dot has its own cloud computer and keeps working on your goals between conversations. OpenAI says the personal Pro plan excludes the UK, while Business Premium includes it in every region ChatGPT supports, with the first dot at no extra cost.
Are AI assistants safe to use with business data?
Check the plan first. Claude Duet runs on Anthropic’s Pro and Max plans, which Anthropic classes as consumer products, while its commercial plans do not use your inputs or outputs for training by default. Check which terms apply, and keep anything that can pay, send or delete behind an approval step.
Should my business use an AI assistant?
Not before you know what it would connect to. Pick the jobs you would hand over, check whether the systems behind them can be connected, and trial one assistant on business terms once one is available to you.
Flux Dynamics is a fractional CTO who builds. If you want an assistant that can actually reach your systems, tell us what you run and we will tell you what it would take.