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Analysis Agent Frameworks & Automation

Always-on AI agents compared: OpenAI dots, Claude Duet, Meta Muse and Grok Bot

By Andrew Miller ·

In six weeks, four of the biggest AI companies each launched an agent that does not wait for you to type. Meta’s Muse, OpenAI’s dots, Anthropic’s Claude Duet and SpaceXSI’s Grok Bot all run on a computer in the cloud, sign in to your apps, and keep working while your phone is in your pocket. They look alike from a distance. Up close they differ on price, on what they can touch, and on how much they ask before acting. Here is how the four compare, from the official docs and terms.

Who each one is for

  • OpenAI dots (4.2) suit people already paying for ChatGPT Pro or a Business Premium seat who want one agent to chase ongoing work across many apps. It reaches about 4,000 apps through ChatGPT plugins and answers in ChatGPT, Slack and Teams.
  • Claude Duet (4.0) is for US Claude Pro and Max subscribers who want a morning brief and help with admin, and would rather the agent waited for them than guessed. It is a research preview behind a waitlist.
  • Meta Muse (3.7) is for US adults who want a free agent for bookings and errands, from its own app or from WhatsApp. Since 29 September it also serves small businesses on Instagram and Facebook.
  • Grok Bot (3.6) is for people already on The X Subscription or a paid Cursor plan who want several named helpers working at once.

What it costs

  • Muse is the only one with a free tier, though Meta does not publish its limit. Power is $20 a month for 500 million Muse tokens a week, Maximum $100 for 3 billion. The paid plans add usage, not features.
  • Grok Bot comes with The X Subscription from Premium at $30 a month, drawing on the same weekly pool as Cursor and Grok, and with every legacy paid Cursor plan. Plus and Free do not include it.
  • Claude Duet costs nothing extra on Pro ($20) or Max ($100 or $200), but its morning brief and check-ins count against the same limits as your chats.
  • dots need ChatGPT Pro, from $100 a month, or a Business Premium seat. The first dot is included. Dots usage did not count toward plan allowances for the first month after launch; OpenAI has not yet published what happens next.

What it can touch

All four work in a cloud machine with a browser, so all four can do anything a logged-in person could do on the sites you connect. The differences are in the plumbing.

  • dots share plugin permissions with ChatGPT and Codex, so apps you connected months ago may already be available. When a dot researches on its own initiative, it gets read-only tools.
  • Duet can use more than 6,000 connectors and plugins from Claude Marketplace and never sees your passwords or sign-in tokens. It checks your apps every few hours, not continuously.
  • Muse runs in a dedicated machine per user, and a second agent, Sentinel, must approve anything it sends to the internet. Meta says your conversations and machine data are kept away from its ad systems.
  • Grok Bot gives every Bot on your account the same computer. Files, browser sessions and logins are visible to all of them, and the docs say separate Bots are not a security boundary. Outbound traffic is allow-all unless an Enterprise admin sets a policy.

How each asks permission

  • Duet has the firmest rules. It shows the action, destination and full content before it sends, pays, signs or deletes, and it refuses to trade securities or move money between accounts even if you approve. Purchases use a one-time card through Stripe’s Link.
  • dots let you set Custom Rules for each kind of action, from act freely to hand back to you. Every purchase needs approval, password changes and money transfers always come back to you, and a separate Auto-review check cannot be overridden.
  • Grok Bot offers Allow once, Always allow and Deny on each action, plus an Auto Review model for risky ones. Enterprise admins can lock Auto Review on; everyone else relies on their own rules.
  • Muse routes everything outbound through Sentinel, which asks you when no rule covers the action. Meta says nothing publishes, sends or spends without approval.

Where you can get it

  • dots: Pro users outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK; Business Premium in all supported ChatGPT regions; Enterprise and Edu as a beta that is off by default.
  • Duet: US Pro and Max only, by waitlist, on iPhone, Android and claude.ai. Not on Team or Enterprise yet.
  • Muse: launched in the US for adults 18 and over, on iPhone, Android, muse.ai and WhatsApp; Meta now also lists Canada.
  • Grok Bot: anywhere The X Subscription or Cursor is sold, on macOS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android, with computers in Cursor’s US cloud.

The biggest risk with each

  • dots remember what they learn from your apps, and you cannot delete individual memories, only reset the whole dot. The same week dots launched, OpenAI shelved GPT-6.1 Astra after tests reportedly showed it acting without permission.
  • Duet can miss something urgent that arrives between its checks, and Anthropic says so itself.
  • Muse’s terms make you “solely responsible” for what it does, put all financial loss on you and cap Meta’s liability at $250 or what you paid in the past year. It trains on your interactions unless you opt out.
  • Grok Bot’s shared computer means one Bot reading a booby-trapped web page sits next to another Bot’s logged-in sessions.

Which to use

Already on ChatGPT Pro outside Europe: dots, with your connections chosen carefully. On Claude Pro or Max in the US and happy to wait: Duet, the most cautious of the four. Want to spend nothing: Muse, with training switched off and a card that has a spending limit. Already paying for Cursor or X: Grok Bot, with sensitive accounts kept off the shared computer. If you want an agent for repeatable business workflows rather than a personal helper, Lindy and Manus remain worth a look. None of these four has been out for more than eleven weeks, so expect the prices and rules above to change.