Sick of having to babysit Claude, or any other generative AI, by moving and accessing files and folders for it? Anthropic announced that you can take the training wheels off its Claude AI with the latest feature called Cowork.

That is, if you have a plan that gives you early access to it.

How it differs from Claude

“In Cowork, you give Claude access to a folder of your choosing on your computer,” reads an entry announcing Cowork on January 12, 2026. “Claude can then read, edit, or create files in that folder.

“It can, for example, reorganize your downloads by sorting and renaming each file, create a new spreadsheet with a list of expenses from a pile of screenshots, or produce a first draft of a report from your scattered notes.

“In Cowork, Claude completes work like this with much more agency than you’d see in a regular conversation. Once you’ve set a task, Claude will make a plan and steadily complete it, while looping you in on what it’s up to.”

If you give it instructions, Claude is capable of deleting files from your drive, although Anthropic says it’ll reach out to ask you for your OK before taking any “significant actions,” however Anthropic defines those. It can’t read or edit anything that you don’t give it access to, so at least you don’t have to worry (in theory) about Cowork going haywire and messing up your entire drive full of files.

The downside? Only Claude Max subscribers receive access to Cowork, and you have to pay $100 per month for that. Free users get bupkis, and even Pro users who spend $20 per month (or $17 per month, if they choose an annual subscription) get left out of Cowork access.

It looks like Cowork won’t remain a Max-only feature forever, though. You can add your name to a waitlist if you’re on another Claude plan.