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Guides / Personal AI agents 2026 · Updated 23 October 2026

Personal AI agents in 2026, compared

Between August and October 2026 the “AI agent that works for you in the background” went from demo to product. Big labs, startups and text-message services all shipped one. Here is the whole field as of 23 October 2026, with what each is for.

The timeline

Timeline of personal AI agent launches in 2026: Grok Bot 11 August, Meta Muse 8 September, Muse for Small Business and OpenAI dots 29 September, Hark Pro 6 October, Claude Duet 21 October
Six launches in ten weeks.

All of them at a glance

AgentFromLaunchedPrice to startYou reach it viaBuilt for
Claude DuetAnthropic21 Oct 2026Claude Pro, $20iOS, Android, claude.aiProfessionals, small businesses
MuseMeta8 Sep 2026FreeMuse appEveryday tasks; business edition
dotsOpenAI29 Sep 2026ChatGPT Pro 100, $100ChatGPT, Slack, TeamsPro users, businesses
Grok BotxAI11 Aug 2026SuperGrok Heavy or Cursor UltramacOS, Windows, iPhoneDevelopers, teams
Hark ProHark6 Oct 2026Free; $20 or $100 for more useWeb, iOS, AndroidEveryday life and errands
InstinctInstinct2026, invite-onlyFree (invite)Text message, phonePersonal assistant, no app
FoFoSep 2026Free tier, paid ProText messagePersonal tasks, human backup

Price

Bar chart of the cheapest monthly plan that includes each agent: Hark Pro and Meta Muse free, Claude Duet $20, OpenAI dots $100, Grok Bot $200
The free agents are the consumer ones; the work-focused ones sit inside existing paid plans.

What they can do

Comparison grid of Claude Duet, Meta Muse, OpenAI dots, Grok Bot and Hark Pro by cloud computer, free plan, own MCP server, approval before send or pay, and Android app
“Not stated” means we found no public statement either way.

The big-lab agents

Claude Duet is the work-first one: a morning brief, checks on your apps every few hours, 6,000+ connectors and a fixed set of approvals. Muse is the consumer-first one, with a business edition wired into Meta’s ad accounts. Dots have the finest-grained permission rules and the highest entry price. Grok Bot gives you a command line and MCP servers on a computer all your Bots share. The four-way comparison is in Duet vs Muse vs dots vs Grok Bot.

The startups

Hark Pro

From Hark, the company founded by Figure AI’s Brett Adcock, launched on 6 October 2026 with a free tier, and $20 or $100 a month for two or ten times the usage. Its computer-use agent, Handoff, starts a virtual computer with its own browser for each request. Instead of a chat list it shows widgets: small custom apps, trackers and reminders. Passwords and payment details can go in its encrypted “Secured by Hark” vault. Hark raised over $700 million in May 2026 and plans hardware devices for 2027.

Instinct

An agent you reach by text message or phone, with no app. It is invite-only and free, raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation in September 2026, and testers have raised concerns about its security model and terms of service.

Fo

Another text-message agent, public since September 2026 with a free tier and a paid Pro plan for heavier work and custom agents. When it cannot finish a task alone it can bring in a human assistant. Public detail on Fo is thin, so check its own site.

How to choose

  • Try one for free: Muse or Hark Pro.
  • Run work from your existing apps: Claude Duet, or dots if you already pay for ChatGPT Pro.
  • Bring your own tools: Claude Duet (custom MCP connectors) or Grok Bot (MCP servers, command line).
  • No app at all: Instinct or Fo, by text.
  • Hand over passwords and cards: read each one’s security model first. Duet, Muse and dots all say the model never sees your passwords; Hark stores them in its vault; Grok Bot keeps them with you during takeover.

If your work involves building hardware, the deciding question is whether the agent can reach electronic parts data at all. That is covered in can an AI agent order electronic parts.

Related

Sources

About this guide

We build Next Everything, an MCP server that lets AI assistants and agents check a BOM against the JLCPCB/LCSC catalog and live Mouser and DigiKey prices, and order the parts you approve. Features, prices and availability here are as announced by each company and reported in the press on the date above. These products are in beta or preview and change often.

Next Everything is not affiliated with Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, Hark or the other companies named here. Product names belong to their owners.