Computer Use (AI)

Computer use is an AI capability that allows a model to control a computer directly — moving the cursor, clicking UI elements, typing, reading screen content, and navigating applications — without requiring an API. It enables agents to automate tasks in legacy software that exposes no machine-readable interface.

Anthropic's Claude and similar frontier models can operate computers through screenshot-and-action loops: the model sees the screen, decides the next action, executes it, and observes the result. Computer use is powerful for legacy system automation but is slower and less reliable than API-based tool use when an API exists. Security controls are essential — a computer-use agent with broad access can be misdirected by adversarial content on screen.