This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.
I’ve never had a secretary before. Or a chief of staff. With these AI agents, I suddenly feel like I have both. This week, among other things, they:
Unlike older chatbots, these agents can take action proactively without waiting for a prompt. They can go online and research or buy things, make reservations, or fill in forms. They can look through various documents, transcripts, and emails to help you finish tedious projects.
Agents are the biggest step forward for AI this year. I’m testing a dozen to compare their reliability, features, and design: Thine, Instinct, ChatGPT’s Dots, Town, Hark, Muse, Poke, Ambi, Sentience, Extra, Slashy, and Claude Duet.
Start with one agent that does what you need. I’m testing a bunch for now, but ultimately I’ll prioritize just a few with distinct strengths.
Some agents, like Instinct, Hark, and Muse, start out free. Others require a paid subscription.
Thine and Dots became much more useful as soon as I connected them to my email, calendar, documents, and Granola meeting transcripts. Now they have a broad view of my projects for context, as well as a detailed understanding of my emails and tasks. Drawing on meeting transcripts, they even understand what I’ve promised to do.
For now the differences are noticeable, but major AI companies are adding similar capabilities.
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