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EP006 · 29 Jan 2026

The Awkward Middle Ground

What the first fortnight of Cowork reveals about the gap between democratisation and reality.

EP006: The Awkward Middle Ground

29 Jan 2026 · 11:58

0:00
11:58
Show Notes

Cowork launched two weeks ago as “Claude Code for the rest of your work.” Today we assess what the first fortnight reveals: proof points that work, honest critiques that cut deep, a cautionary tale about deleted files, and the design question at the heart of AI democratisation.

In this episode:

  • Why Cowork exists — developers were using Claude Code for everything except coding
  • The proof points — Lenny Rachitsky’s 320 transcripts analysed in 15 minutes
  • The honest critique — Claire Vo on the “awkward middle ground”
  • The safety story — 11GB deleted, and Anthropic’s response
  • The design question — where should agent interfaces live?
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