Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has unveiled a powerful new AI model capable of operating independently for nearly a full working day.
Doing 30% of your job
This promises to nudge the role of AI from task-based assistance to broader, autonomous execution of workplace objectives. In other words, it can take your job.
World Economic Forum’s latest Future of Jobs report found that 41% of employers expect AI to result in workforce reductions, which points to the need for policy coordination and regulation before AI’s workplace influence grows further.
At this point policy makers are already playing catch up.
The Claude Opus 4 model was unveiled on May 22 and can sustain up to seven hours of continuous work, a big leap in AI’s capacity to handle large, complex projects with minimal human input.
While not (yet) a complete match for the varied human workday, the update is a step change in the quest for enterprise-grade automation.
Anthropic’s product lead for Claude.ai, Scott White, said the model is designed to offload repetitive but necessary tasks that typically take up about 30% of an employee’s day.
Only the unfulfilling parts
“It’s like the kind of thing... that isn’t necessarily fulfilling or professionally expanding you, but is necessary in the pursuit of being successful in your job,” he argued.
White offered the example of a marketing professional using Opus 4 to analyse past campaign performance across platforms such as Google and Facebook, interpret the results and recommend future strategy – all without ongoing guidance.
Anthropic also released Claude Sonnet 4 for general use and positioned its models as tools to augment, rather than replace, human roles.
However, the company acknowledges the broader implications. “This is something that the government, policy makers, many companies, need to work together to understand,” said White.
The has been a recent surge in generative AI investment. A Menlo Ventures report found enterprise spending in the sector increased sixfold in 2024, with Anthropic gaining market share against dominant player OpenAI.
Of course, major tech firms are also ramping up activity.
Google launched its autonomous coding tool, Jules, earlier this week, while Microsoft and Apple are also expanding their AI development initiatives.