AI Tools Today: Claude Duet opens a waitlist, Google Docs drafts from your voice, and Gemini Notebook lets you shape slide decks first

Anthropic and Google both shipped updates on October 21, with Anthropic opening a waitlist for Claude Duet and Google bringing voice drafting to Google Docs on your phone and more control over slide decks in Gemini Notebook. We close with Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rates and the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest count of mortgage applications.

Claude Duet works in the background and asks before it acts

Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on October 21, which is a new app where Claude acts as a proactive agent, meaning it watches your connected apps and works on tasks on its own time. Each morning it sends a short brief on the most important items across those apps, and after that it only messages you when something needs your attention. You can hand it work such as scheduling meetings, building dashboards, making forecasts or building simple web apps, and it runs on a computer in the cloud with its own browser, so your laptop and phone can be off while it works. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows you exactly what it is about to do and waits for your approval, and Anthropic says some actions, such as trading securities or moving money between accounts, stay blocked even with approval. It is starting with Pro and Max subscribers in the U.S. through a waitlist, as an app on iPhone and Android and on claude.ai, and Anthropic notes it can misread a thread or misjudge how urgent something is. (Anthropic, Anthropic release notes)

Price: included in the Pro and Max plans with the same usage limits as the rest of Claude, and Claude Pro is $20 per month billed monthly or $17 per month billed annually at $200 up front, with Max starting at $100 per month (Claude pricing)

For your office: if you are on Claude Pro or Max in the U.S., join the Duet waitlist now, and when it opens, connect your email and calendar first and read the morning brief for a week before you hand it any task that touches a client.

Google Docs on your phone can draft a structured document from your voice

Google announced Docs Live on October 21, which lets you talk through your ideas in the Google Docs app on Android or iPhone and have it write a structured draft, such as a project update or a proposal. While it drafts, it can pull in context from your Gmail, Google Chat and Google Drive files and from the web, so the draft can draw on what is already in your inbox and your files. Google says it is available now for Workspace accounts on both rapid and scheduled release, and it covers Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, personal Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, Google AI Pro for Education and the AI Expanded Access add-on. (Google Workspace Updates)

Price: Google Workspace Business Standard is $14 per user per month and Business Plus is $22 per user per month, with Enterprise pricing available from Google sales (Google Workspace pricing), and Google AI Pro is $19.99 per month with Google AI Ultra starting at $99.99 per month (Google AI plans)

For your office: after your next showing or property tour, open Docs Live in the car and talk through what you saw, then let it draft the client follow up or the site visit notes and read every detail before you send it.

Gemini Notebook lets you review a slide deck outline before it is built

Google announced on October 21 that Gemini Notebook, its research and writing assistant, now walks you through making Slide Decks and Video Overviews step by step, where a Video Overview is a video Gemini makes from the sources in your notebook. You can review the outline of a deck or the producer notes for a video and give feedback on the content and the visual style before the final version is made, and you can still skip the review when you only want a quick first draft. Google says the gradual rollout started on October 16 and can take up to 15 days to reach everyone, and it is available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers and personal Google accounts. (Google Workspace Updates)

Price: Gemini Notebook is listed on the free Gemini plan at $0 per month with a Google Account, and Google AI Plus at $4.99 per month, Google AI Pro at $19.99 per month and Google AI Ultra starting at $99.99 per month add higher limits (Google AI plans)

For your office: load a listing’s disclosures, comps and neighborhood notes into a notebook, ask for a slide deck for your listing presentation, and correct the outline before Gemini builds the slides so the deck tells the story you want to tell the seller.

In the industry

Freddie Mac reported on October 22 that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 7.32% this week from 7.40% last week, against 6.19% a year ago, and the 15-year fixed rate eased to 6.68% from 6.71%. Chief economist Sam Khater said the decline offers “some relief to prospective homebuyers,” which makes this a good week to rerun payment estimates for buyers who stepped back when rates climbed. (Freddie Mac, Freddie Mac via GlobeNewswire)

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported on October 21 that mortgage applications fell 5.3% in the week ending October 16, with purchase applications down 7% for the week and 18% from a year earlier, while the average 30-year fixed contract rate dipped to 7.41% from 7.50%. MBA’s Joel Kan said “the higher mortgage rate environment has cooled the housing market this fall,” and that is useful context for sellers deciding whether to adjust a list price before the holidays. (MBA)

We publish this every day there is something real to report. If a tool your office depends on shipped something we missed, tell us at realestateaistudio.com/contact.