Anthropic launches "AI colleague" Cowork, scaring off two major traditional software stocks, officially entering the autonomous execution phase

AI startup Anthropic has added a new feature called "Cowork" to its chatbot Claude, causing market turbulence. Two major software companies, Adobe (ADBE) and Salesforce (CRM), saw their shares drop by 5.4% and 7.1% respectively on Wednesday, reflecting investor concerns that the traditional professional software market will face direct challenges from AI. It is reported that Anthropic's intelligent assistant, hailed as an "AI colleague," can directly operate computer desktop systems to handle tasks such as file management and data organization, marking the official entry of AI applications into the autonomous execution phase. Authorized Direct Control of Computer Operations According to foreign media reports, unlike traditional AI chatbots that can only provide suggestions, Cowork allows users to authorize it to directly control computer operations. Users simply need to point Claude to a folder, and it can automatically organize desktop files, open a browser to search for information, compile data, and transform scattered information into structured reports without requiring any step prompts from the user. One of the most representative application scenarios is its ability to process receipt screenshots through optical character recognition (OCR) technology, automatically extract key information, and generate accounting tables. It can also automatically extract customer data from web pages and emails to update databases. Direct Impact on Adobe and Salesforce The emergence of Cowork directly impacts two major software domains. Adobe's creative and document productivity tools (such as Photoshop, Acrobat, etc.) have long dominated the market, but Cowork's ability to directly manipulate local files and generate structured outputs may replace some document processing functions. As for Salesforce, it is the world's leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform by market share, and its most time-consuming data input and update tasks are precisely the areas where AI automation has the greatest advantage. Cowork's ability to automatically capture and organize customer information may weaken the demand for some of Salesforce's core functionalities. Windows Version Still in Development with Risk of Accidental File Deletion However, currently, Cowork has only launched a Mac preview version, and the Windows version is still in development. During actual testing, there are occasional interruptions in processing or misunderstandings, and there is even a risk of accidental file deletion. Additionally, the subscription fee for advanced features ranges from $100 to $200 per month (HKD 780 to 1,560), which sets a certain threshold for its widespread adoption. The report also mentioned that the development of Cowork took only a week and a half, with most of the programming work completed using the company's existing Claude Code tool. This "AI building AI" development model demonstrates that the iteration speed of AI capabilities is continuously increasing