An analysis of 1.2 million anonymized sessions shows business operations and content creation dominate the AI chat agent's workload — not coding.
Business operations and content creation account for roughly half of all activity on Claude Cowork, Anthropic’s AI chat agent, according to an analysis of 1.2 million anonymized sessions recorded between May 11 and 31, 2026, across more than 600,000 organizations [1].
The finding matters for developers and enterprise buyers because it suggests the interface — not just the underlying model — shapes how workers actually adopt AI tools [1]. Cowork was built to bring agent-like capabilities to a familiar chat window, and the usage data shows it is being pulled toward the unglamorous coordination work that fills most office jobs [1].
What people are actually doing
Anthropic used an automated system to assign each session to one of 20 work categories [1]. “Business process and operations” came in first at 33.4 percent, covering tasks like pulling scattered status updates into a single report, building onboarding checklists, and reconciling spreadsheets [1]. “Content creation and copywriting” ranked second at 16.4 percent, spanning drafts, slide decks, posts, and proposals [1].
Anthropic describes these activities as “connective in nature,” noting that spreadsheets consolidate scattered data, slide decks translate decisions for audiences with varying backgrounds, and onboarding checklists pass along institutional knowledge to new hires [1].
The remaining categories are considerably smaller. Software development accounts for 8.7 percent, DevOps and infrastructure for 7 percent, research for 6.4 percent, data analysis for 5.8 percent, document processing for 4.1 percent, and sales operations for 4 percent [1]. Personal assistance sits at 3.8 percent, education at 2.4 percent, and meeting analysis at 1.8 percent [1].
Why coding ranks low
The relatively small share of coding sessions — 8.7 percent — is intentional, according to Anthropic [1]. Developers still use Claude Code, a separate product, to build, debug, and ship software; in Cowork, they handle the communication and coordination tasks that surround that work instead [1].
Anthropic points to a parallel pattern that emerged after Claude Code launched in 2025, when a notable number of non-technical users showed up in the terminal to organize folders, remove duplicate files, and write spreadsheet formulas — tasks that had nothing to do with writing code [1]. Cowork was designed to serve those users without requiring them to touch a command line [1].
Limits of the data
Anthropic acknowledges several constraints in the analysis [1]. The sample captures only a fixed maximum number of sessions per hour, meaning peak usage periods are underrepresented [1]. The figures are percentages rather than absolute session volumes, and roughly five percent of sessions involve personal use such as hobbies or casual chat, so the dataset does not reflect purely professional activity [1].
Anthropic also notes that its “Business Ops” category classifies activities rather than job functions — there are no separate buckets for marketing, finance, or human resources — which likely inflates that category’s share, the company said [1].
Cowork has recently expanded beyond the desktop application to the web and smartphones, and Anthropic had previously given the agent the ability to directly operate Mac and Windows desktops [1]. The company said it will continue updating the usage analysis [1].
Sources
This article was drafted with AI from the cited sources and checked against them before publication. Spot an error? Let us know.
