If you're not using an AI agent now, chances are you may be in the near future. On Tuesday, OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) CEO Sam Altman debuted the company's new Dots AI agent platform. Designed to handle both mundane tasks, like helping arrange your work schedule, and more complex operations, such as making purchases on your behalf or reviewing code, Dots is just the latest AI agent to hit the increasingly crowded space.
Earlier this month, Meta (META) unveiled its Muse agent. The app quickly shot to the top of both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store.
While Dots and Muse are intended for different audiences — OpenAI is initially positioning Dots for the enterprise space, while Meta is angling for the consumer market — the pair share one key similarity: they feature cute, customizable looks meant to make them appear more approachable. And that could drive adoption both in users' personal lives and in the office. Powered by OpenAI's Astra model, Dots can triage Slack notifications, prepare invoices, and more. In a prepared demonstration, OpenAI showed how Dot can recognize that if you've got work scheduled through dinner, it can pull up delivery options and then order it for you with your permission.
Meta's Muse, which I've been using, has helped me parse my Verizon Wireless bill and compare it to competing offerings from AT&T and T-Mobile, search for movers, and set up breaking news alerts for the latest tech headlines.
The agents are a means to help companies move beyond traditional chatbots into a world where AI completes work for you.
Agents aren't exactly new. I previously dubbed 2025 the year of the AI agent on big talk about the technology from companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and others. Earlier this year, OpenClaw took the tech world by storm thanks to its ability to run AI agents on users' personal computers.
The latest push from Meta and OpenAI comes as AI agents gain greater capabilities thanks to more powerful underlying models.
But that's also led to a deluge of hacking incidents over the summer from leading AI companies, including OpenAI and Meta. This week, OpenAI said it is pausing the release of its Astra 6.1 model over safety concerns.
Earlier this month, Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) CEO Dario Amodei called on AI companies to slow the development of frontier models. Altman said he agreed at the time.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley*.*
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