OpenAI's Dots is limited to paying ChatGPT users, and in the author's test it did two hours of work for fifteen minutes of his — which is exactly why he would rather pay up than wade through ads and suggested purchases.
In a 2023 blog post Bill Gates wrote that the age of apps was ending: you would no longer open one app per task, you would just tell your device what you wanted. Three years on, that "near future" has only just started to show up.
What the hundred dollars buys
Chatbots had short memories, could not learn, and lacked basic abilities, which held agents back. Lately they have started to catch up with the hype. The author tried a few: Town, which works like a messaging app; Meta's heavily promoted Muse; and OpenAI's new Dots.
Dots is only for paying ChatGPT users. The author says that is what puts him at ease — a paid product's incentives line up with his. Muse is free and funded by a cut of transactions, which means a team will eventually carry a target for getting you to buy more inside it.
What the little cloud did that afternoon
The author made his agent a blue cloud with googly eyes and a bowtie, and named it Kicker. Then he wrote this column while handing it chores: declining a radio booking that clashed with his schedule, drafting an email to the lawyer about the new company's vacation policy, answering questions from the bookkeeper.
Harder: an insurance broker sent a form asking how many floors the new office has and whether it has sprinklers. Kicker found the lease, checked city websites, reviewed the budget, and answered all but two questions. The author reckons the work would have taken him two hours; it took him fifteen minutes.
The cost is handing over your texts, email and banking details. Where to draw that line is a personal call — starting with a Slack workspace is probably wiser than starting with your card number.
Why it matters
The real question about agents is not whether they can work but what pays for them. A free product funded by transaction cuts will eventually have someone whose job is to make you spend; a subscription at least puts the motive on the table. Which you pick decides how you get interrupted from now on.
Curated from high-quality sources, with concise summaries and key takeaways.
