Anthropic Launches Claude Cowork Agent Tool for Mac Users Despite Security Risks

Jan 14, 2026
Simon Willison’s Weblog
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Summary

Anthropic releases Claude Cowork agent tool exclusively for Mac subscribers, enabling non-developers to automate computer tasks through AI despite acknowledging serious security vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive user data.

Key Points

  • Anthropic launches Claude Cowork, a general agent tool available only to Max subscribers that brings Claude Code's capabilities to non-developers through a less intimidating interface in the Claude Desktop macOS app
  • The tool operates in a sandboxed virtual machine environment and can analyze files, search websites, and perform various computer tasks, as demonstrated by successfully identifying unpublished blog drafts and checking publication status
  • Anthropic acknowledges significant prompt injection security risks and advises users to avoid granting access to sensitive files, though they admit users cannot be expected to identify all suspicious actions indicating potential attacks

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