OpenAI Dot vs. Meta Muse: Price, Permissions and Availability Divide Always-On AI Agents
Meta's Muse and OpenAI's always-on Dots both keep working after users leave, but they differ on price, permissions and availability.
Muse can go shopping, complete forms, make travel plans, send emails and monitor things such as prices. Dots can manage ongoing research, work across connected applications and perform recurring tasks. OpenAI is closely integrating Dots with ChatGPT, Work and Codex.
Muse runs on a dedicated Secure VM with its own browser and is designed to feel like messaging another person. It can be used through Muse's apps, the web or WhatsApp, and then linked with services such as email and a calendar. In Engadget's hands-on test, Muse turned saved Instagram and Facebook posts into organized recipe and restaurant collections.
Dot lives within ChatGPT and is powered by GPT-6 Astra. Each Dot has its own cloud computer, can use connected plugins, remembers relevant context and can keep working on scheduled or recurring jobs. Users can also grant a Dot access to their local computer to retrieve files or browse the internet, and OpenAI plans to let users manage multiple Dots at the same time.
The agents still need supervision. Meta states that Muse asks for permission before taking sensitive actions such as sending an email or making a purchase. OpenAI uses permissions, Custom Rules and Auto-review to manage what Dots can do. Both companies caution that their agents can make mistakes. Browser access also has limits: Amazon has already blocked Muse from shopping on its site.
Price is the most obvious difference. Muse's free tier has a usage cap, and its Power and Maximum tiers cost $20 and $100 per month. Individual users currently pay much more for Dots, with the lowest available option being Pro 100 at $100 per month. A Business Premium seat costs $100 per user per month when billed annually, or $125 per user per month when billed monthly.
Linking more accounts makes an agent more capable, but that can mean access to email, calendar, files and browser sessions. Meta states that conversations and data within its VM are not shared with its advertising systems, and that users can choose not to have interactions used to enhance Meta's AI models. Engadget found the model-improvement setting enabled by default, along with a default permission option that prompts for only some actions.
OpenAI states that activity from personal-plan Dots may be used to improve its models, depending on the user's ChatGPT setting, while Business and Enterprise data is not used for training by default. Proactive Dot research is read-only until a subsequent action passes its normal permission checks. OpenAI also states that Dot usage will not count toward usage limits unless the Dot is working within ChatGPT Work or Codex.
Availability differs by region. Dots are rolling out to eligible Pro users outside the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the UK. Dots are available to Business Premium users across supported ChatGPT regions, and Enterprise access is still in beta. Muse is currently available in the US and Canada.