This is a nice technical account that we're used to seeing from Simon.
I get a kick out of the fact that Microsoft has been preciously clinging to the "Copilot" branding and here comes Claude coming saying "Cowork? Good enough for us!".
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Taking a step back, I really would love to see a broader perspective -- an account of someone who is not tech savvy at all. Someone who works a basic desk job that requires basic competency of microsoft word. I'm so deep into the bubble of AI-adjacent people that I haven't taken stock of how this would or could empower those who are under-skilled.
We've taken it as truth that those who benefit most from AI are high-skilled augmenters, but do others see some lift from it? I'd love if anthropic tried to strap some barely-performing administrative assistants into these harnesses and see if there's a net benefit. For all I know, it's not inconceivable that there be a `rm -rf` catastrophe every other hour.
This predates Cowork, but I have started to see "non-technical" journalists start taking Claude Code seriously recently. For instance, Joe Weisenthal has been writing about this, eg.: https://nitter.net/thestalwart/status/2010512842705735948.
New York Magazine, not a technical publication by any means, also had an article about Claude Code/Cowork yesterday: [0]. Kinda punches a hole in the argument you sometimes see around here that "ChatGPT is the only brand consumers know, so OpenAI will definitely win."
>Someone who works a basic desk job that requires basic competency of microsoft word.
I dont actually think there many of those people out there. And those that are, are on their way out. There are basically none of those people entering the work force. There are tons of people with that sort of computer literacy but they aren't working on computers.
Eh, I can think of some examples for sure, I think there are still a lot of people like this.
* Bookkeeper & planning approval within city government
* Doctor/dentist/optometry receptionist & scheduler (both at independent offices and at major hospitals)
* Front desk staff at almost every company with a physical front desk
* University administrative staff (there can be a lot more of these people than you'd think)
* DMV workers
* Probably lots of teachers
Those jobs all will use other software as well, but a lot of their job is making and filling forms on a computer, where they are likely needing to use MS Word fairly often to write things up.
It's not any practical problem if it's not used for training and product improvement. It's also not a legal problem if contracts have such provisions and are compatible with laws in relevant jurisdictions.
How about young people entering the workforce who primarily work on computers but are mostly computer illiterate?
It definitely exists. But it's shrinking. There are tons of computer illiterate people, less so but even amongst young people, but they arent primarily working on computers. There is still a sizable chunk over 40 but those days are numbered.
I get a kick out of the fact that Microsoft has been preciously clinging to the "Copilot" branding and here comes Claude coming saying "Cowork? Good enough for us!".
-
Taking a step back, I really would love to see a broader perspective -- an account of someone who is not tech savvy at all. Someone who works a basic desk job that requires basic competency of microsoft word. I'm so deep into the bubble of AI-adjacent people that I haven't taken stock of how this would or could empower those who are under-skilled.
We've taken it as truth that those who benefit most from AI are high-skilled augmenters, but do others see some lift from it? I'd love if anthropic tried to strap some barely-performing administrative assistants into these harnesses and see if there's a net benefit. For all I know, it's not inconceivable that there be a `rm -rf` catastrophe every other hour.