What happened
Between 11 August and 21 October 2026, three of the big AI companies each launched the same idea: Grok Bot (xAI, 11 August), OpenAI Dots (29 September) and Claude Duet (Anthropic, 21 October). Meta got there first with Muse on 8 September. Each is an agent with its own cloud computer that keeps working after you close the app.
They are easy to mix up, and they are not interchangeable. This page is the short version: what they share, where they differ, and which kind of owner each one suits. Every detail is as reported at launch; prices and regions were the points on which reports disagreed.
What they have in common
Strip the branding off and they are the same product three times.
- A cloud computer and browser of their own, so they work when your laptop is closed.
- Connections to your apps, from thousands of plugins, or by clicking through the screens themselves.
- They come back with finished work, not an answer.
- They ask before the costly things: sending, paying, signing, deleting.
- They are for you, the owner or employee who set them up.
Side by side
The differences that change a decision, one question at a time.
 Claude DuetAnthropic · 21 Oct |  OpenAI DotsOpenAI · 29 Sep |  Grok BotxAI · 11 Aug | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | WaitlistUS Claude Pro and Max only | In the planChatGPT Pro, Business Premium; admin-enabled elsewhere | In the plansSuperGrok and Cursor plans |
| Price (as reported) | No extra charge in preview; shares your Claude limits | First Dot included; Pro about $100–$500 a month | About $30–$200 a month per xAI; usage counted separately |
| Where you talk to it | Phone app, claude.ai | ChatGPT, Slack, Teams | Its own desktop and mobile apps, @bot on X |
| AI behind it | Claude Opus 5.5 | GPT-6 Astra | Not disclosedPicked for you |
| How it asks permission | Asks before sending, paying, signing, deleting | Most visible controlsCustom Rules, Activity View, Auto-review | Drafts in an approval queue, a second model reviews |
| Answers your customers? | NoCannot call or text | Not documentedBuilt for the person, not the public | Not documentedWhatsApp not mentioned |
| Best fit | US owner living in Gmail, Calendar, QuickBooks | Already on ChatGPT Pro, team in Slack or Teams | Cursor or SuperGrok users who want several helpers |
Who can get it
Duet: a waitlist for US Claude Pro and Max subscribers; no Team or Enterprise yet. Dots: included for ChatGPT Pro and Business Premium, admin-enabled for Enterprise, Edu and Healthcare; Pro reported as not available in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK at launch. Grok Bot: included in SuperGrok and in Cursor’s paid plans; enterprise customers go to a waitlist.
What it costs
Duet: no extra charge in the preview, but it shares your Claude plan limits. Dots: first Dot included with the plan, which reports put at $100 to $500 a month for Pro; extra Dots unpriced. Grok Bot: xAI lists tiers from about $30 to $200 a month, and a Bot’s work is counted separately from your plan usage, with limits shown as relative tiers. For all three the real cost is how much work you hand over.
Where you talk to it
Duet: its own phone app and claude.ai, in one ongoing thread. Dots: ChatGPT, Slack and Teams. Grok Bot: its own desktop and mobile apps, and @bot on X. None of the three is documented to work in WhatsApp; Meta's Muse is.
How it asks permission
Dots has the most visible controls: Custom Rules, Activity View and Auto-review. Duet asks before sending, paying, signing or deleting, and never sees your passwords. Grok Bot leaves drafts in an approval queue and uses a separate model to review risky actions.
Which AI is behind it
Duet runs on Claude Opus 5.5 and Dots on GPT-6 Astra. Grok Bot does not say, and picks the model for you.
Which one for which owner
Pick by what you already pay for, not by the launch video.
- You live in Gmail, Calendar and QuickBooks, and you are in the US: join the Duet waitlist.
- You already pay for ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium and your team uses Slack or Teams: start with a Dot.
- You want several role-based helpers and already use Cursor or SuperGrok: look at Grok Bot, and watch the usage.
- You want personal errands and a free start: look at Muse, available in the US and Canada.
- You are outside the US, on a ChatGPT free plan or on none of these: keep working as you do. Nothing has shifted under you.
What none of them changes
The part that is the same across all three, and that the launch videos skip.
Your customers still need an answer in the next minute
These agents check things on a schedule and hand you drafts to approve. A customer who asks on WhatsApp whether you are open tomorrow is not waiting for your approval.
They know your apps, not your business
They can read your invoices. They do not know your return policy, your delivery areas or which discount you promised in March, unless you teach them.
One agent with your logins is a lot of trust
Every one of them can act inside your accounts. Give it a narrow account for the first month, whichever you choose.
What to do this month
A one-hour version that works whichever you choose.
- List the five chores you would hand to a new assistant on their first day.
- Mark each one: only I see it, or a customer sees it.
- Give the first group to the agent you can get, with a narrow login.
- Keep the second group for an agent built to talk to customers, or for a person.
- Revisit in 60 days, when prices, limits and regions have settled.
How to read the next announcement
There will be another launch within months. Four questions get you to the answer that matters faster than any coverage of it.
- Can I actually get it, and on which plan? A large share of every launch is either unreleased, sitting behind a tier above the one you pay for, or closed in your country.
- What can it do that the last one couldn't? Test scores almost never change your week. “Keeps working when your computer is off” does.
- How fast, and how much? Those two numbers alone decide whether it can go anywhere near a customer, or only near your back office.
- What did they not say? The limitations are always the shortest section in the announcement and the most useful one in it.
Most AI announcements change nothing for a small business in the month they land. That is the normal outcome, not cynicism. The ones worth your afternoon are the ones that take a specific job off your desk — and you will usually recognise them by how boring that job is.
Where AssistantLabs fits
All three work for the owner. The job none of them is documented for is the one your customers see: answering them.
These agents work for you. Your customers talk to someone else.
An agent like this sits on the owner's side: your inbox, your calendar, your spreadsheets. When a customer writes on WhatsApp at 22:40 and asks whether the item is in stock, none of them is documented as the one answering. That is sensible — whatever answers customers in your name should not also hold the keys to everything you own.
What an agent that talks to customers needs instead
- To know only your business — catalog, prices, FAQ, opening hours. Not your inbox, not your accounts.
- To work where customers already write — WhatsApp, Instagram, email, website chat — in their language.
- To hand over to a person when it should, and record what is still open.
- To start muted and only answer once you have seen how it handles real questions.
They complement, not compete. You can connect your AssistantLabs workspace to Claude or ChatGPT and ask about your customers' conversations. What we have not confirmed: whether Duet or Dots can use a connection like that at launch — check before you rely on it.
If you want an agent that answers customers on AssistantLabs, the guide to getting your agent live in 3 weeks walks through it step by step.