ChatGPT Dots, Grok Bot and Meta Muse explained

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Dots, Grok Bot and Meta’s Muse are AI agents you hand work to, not just chat with. Each has a computer of its own in the cloud, signs in to the apps you connect and keeps working after you close the app, checking with you before anything sensitive. They arrived within seven weeks of each other: Grok Bot on 11 August 2026, Muse on 8 September and ChatGPT Dots on 29 September.

What they share matters as much as how they differ. None of the three announcements offers paid data of its own. The agents work through your logins, so what they can reach is mostly what you already have.

What are ChatGPT Dots?

OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Dots on 29 September 2026 as always-on agents that live in ChatGPT. Each one runs on GPT-6 Astra, has its own cloud computer and browser, and can connect to over 4,000 apps through ChatGPT’s plugins. You can message or call your agent in ChatGPT on desktop, web and mobile, and message it in Slack and Teams.

Each agent can research in the background, but OpenAI restricts those background tools to reading: they can’t send messages, change app content or control a browser. Everything else follows rules you can adjust, and some steps, such as changing a password, always stay with you.

According to OpenAI’s help centre, ChatGPT Dots are rolling out to Pro users aged 18 and over outside the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the UK, and to Business Premium users in every supported ChatGPT region. Enterprise, Edu and Healthcare workspaces get a beta that an admin has to turn on. Your first agent is included in Pro or Business Premium at no extra cost.

What is Grok Bot?

Grok Bot was announced as a beta on 11 August 2026: a team of always-on agents that share a computer of their own in the cloud. Bots sign in to the tools you already use and work across apps and websites, including, in the announcement’s words, platforms with “no clean API or MCP”. You message a bot from your phone or desktop like a colleague, put several in a group chat to divide the work, or show one a task once so it can repeat it as a routine.

The apps are for desktop and iOS. Grok Bot’s plans and billing page, hosted by Cursor, says it is included with Premium, Super and Ultra on The X Subscription, but not Plus or Free, and with legacy paid Cursor plans and Cursor Teams. Linking a SuperGrok, SuperGrok Plus, SuperGrok Heavy or X Premium+ subscription also gives access, as does a seat on a self-serve Grok Business plan.

What is Meta’s Muse?

Meta introduced Muse on 8 September 2026 as a personal agent that does the work rather than only answering questions. It runs on Muse Secure VM, a dedicated cloud computer with its own browser, and you talk to it in the Muse app or in WhatsApp. Meta’s examples include sending email, booking travel, filling in forms and negotiating on your behalf, and Muse can pay at checkout with Link by Stripe. It asks for approval before sending an email or making a purchase.

Meta says Muse is free for most of what people need, with subscription plans for people who want more. It started in the US on iOS, Android and muse.ai, and Meta’s small business announcement of 29 September describes it as available in the US and Canada.

How do ChatGPT Dots, Grok Bot and Muse compare?

At a glance	ChatGPT Dots (OpenAI)	Grok Bot	Muse (Meta)
Announced	29 September 2026	11 August 2026, as a beta	8 September 2026
Works on	Its own cloud computer and browser	A cloud computer its bots share	Muse Secure VM, with its own browser
Where you talk to it	ChatGPT, Slack, Teams	Desktop and iOS apps	Muse app, muse.ai, WhatsApp
Who can get it	ChatGPT Pro (not EEA, Switzerland or UK), Business Premium; Enterprise beta	Premium, Super or Ultra on The X Subscription; legacy Cursor plans; linked SuperGrok	Free for most uses, in the US and Canada
Adding your own tools	ChatGPT plugins, including custom MCP servers on some plans	Ask in chat to add an MCP server	Custom connectors built from a service’s API
Paid data of its own	None described	None described	None described

What can’t they reach on their own?

All three are built to act through accounts you already have. ChatGPT Dots use the apps you connect and their browsers, Grok Bot signs in to your tools, and Muse uses connectors and the services you sign it in to. None of the three announcements describes a paid data source of its own.

That matters when a task needs something behind a paywall. Lists of businesses and decision makers with their work contact details, AI video in bulk and detailed local business listings often come from paid services, each with its own subscription. For the agent to use one, you sign it in to an account that pays for it. Even where a ready-made connector exists, the subscription stays: Grok’s connector catalogue notes that its Meltwater connector requires an active Meltwater subscription. We look at why those subscriptions add up, even when one account works across several AI apps, in whether you need a subscription for every AI tool.

Websites can also say no. In September 2026 Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on Amazon.com, and told Adweek it had not been made aware in advance that Muse would access its store. An agent that works through a browser depends on each site’s rules.

Can you add your own tools to them?

Yes, in different ways, and two of them use MCP, an open standard for connecting AI apps to outside tools, which we explain in what is MCP.

• ChatGPT Dots use the plugins you set up in ChatGPT: OpenAI says plugin permissions are shared across ChatGPT Dots, ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex. ChatGPT adds a custom MCP server as a plugin on the web, in full on Business, Enterprise and Edu and with read and fetch permissions only on Pro. OpenAI notes that the apps available to the agents may differ.
• Grok Bot has no settings form for this. A Cursor support engineer explained on 30 August 2026 that you ask your bot in chat to add an MCP server, giving its address, and it confirms the details before setting it up. The server must be reachable over the internet, because the bot runs in the cloud. That is a forum answer, not official documentation.
• Muse has built-in connectors under Settings, and you can ask it to build a custom connector for another service, which can involve retrieving that service’s API details. Meta’s help page doesn’t mention MCP, and Meta doesn’t review custom connectors.

The steps for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and coding tools are in how to add a tool to ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

Which one should you choose?

Start from where you already work and pay. If your day runs through ChatGPT, Slack or Teams and you have Business Premium, or Pro outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, ChatGPT Dots are already included. If you pay for Premium or above on The X Subscription, or for a paid Cursor plan, Grok Bot is likely included too. If you want help with errands and shopping in the US or Canada without a paid plan, Muse is free for most uses. Whichever you pick, look at what it is signed in to: that is the edge of what it can do.

Where IKAG fits

IKAG is building one connection that gives the AI people already use, agents included, the paid tools and data they can’t reach on their own: lead data, AI video, web data, local business listings, social media data and company records. The direction is pay per call instead of a subscription to each service, and no prices have been set. In most apps, connecting is designed to take one link and a sign-in. IKAG is opening to early users and data partners first.