I’m discussing replacement options for our broken couch with my partner when I get a bright idea: Use OpenAI’s recently announced AI agents, called Dots, to buy a couch on our behalf.
My partner is less sure a bot will actually help, but I insist, calling the always-on agent through ChatGPT to get the task started. “Hello, Connor,” it says, getting my name wrong off the bat. I wince as I watch my partner’s face grow even more skeptical. It’s hard to trust an AI agent when it can’t even remember your name.
AI agents are currently leaping from niche software for early adopters to something ordinary people might actually use—might being the operative word here. From Meta’s Muse to OpenAI’s Dots, these tools are built to feel like you’re texting a friend and asking them to complete online tasks, like booking a flight or canceling a dinner reservation. It’s the next evolution of a chatbot: a cuddly persona designed to feel welcoming with the power of a virtual browser it can control.
After a few days with Dots, it’s clear this nascent feature is still rough in some areas. From mistranscribing what I said to offering to solve captchas it couldn’t, my agent’s messy actions didn’t instill me with confidence. Even so, what OpenAI released may eventually overhaul how users interact with the internet, as future iterations improve on this initial offering.
While Meta offers Muse for free, OpenAI’s competing product is behind a $100-a-month subscription. It may eventually drop this paywall, as it has for other AI features.
Dots are considered “always-on,” meaning the agents can run recurring tasks while you’re not using ChatGPT and proactively message you with info. Users can use one agent, though the company may let people control multiple agents in the future.
OpenAI nudges users to connect other information sources, like a Gmail account, for more personalized results. It’s worth considering the security implications of giving your agent this level of access before getting started, as this style of digital automation remains fairly new, and agents can make privacy gaffes.
AI companies often market these agents as the future of shopping, so I wanted to see how much help it would actually provide for buying a new couch. After correcting my Dot, named Toolie, on my name, I told it the dimensions we need for the new couch to fit through our doorframe. Toolie followed up asking for our budget range. The agent seemed to detect that two people were chatting with it at once and addressed both of us when asking for more details.
