The Battle to Be Your Personal AI Agent Is Here
The Battle to Be Your Personal AI Agent Is Here
争夺你个人 AI 代理的战争已经打响
Yesterday, I spent the morning at OpenAI’s annual DevDay, where over 2,500 nerds discussed building software and marveled at the latest artificial intelligence models. The biggest reveal of the day was Dots, the company’s new, always-on agents that proactively help complete tasks and make autonomous decisions as they scour the web.
昨天，我在 OpenAI 的年度开发者大会（DevDay）度过了一个上午。在那里，超过 2500 名极客共同探讨软件开发，并对最新的人工智能模型赞叹不已。当天最大的发布是“Dots”——这是该公司全新的“全天候”代理，它们能够主动帮助用户完成任务，并在浏览网页时做出自主决策。
After watching the sometimes messy demos on stage and hearing CEO Sam Altman talk about his experiences using the agents, I was curious what it felt like to boss my own Dot around. I’ve spent most of September testing another cute, cuddly agent, Meta’s Muse, and I wanted to know how OpenAI’s user experience would compare.
在观看了舞台上偶尔有些混乱的演示，并听取了首席执行官山姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）分享他使用这些代理的经验后，我很好奇指挥我自己的“Dot”会是什么感觉。九月的大部分时间里，我都在测试另一个可爱又讨喜的代理——Meta 的 Muse，我想知道 OpenAI 的用户体验会如何与之对比。
I named mine “Toolie” and tweaked it to look like a pink frog. As midnight approached and my partner slept soundly nearby, I started whispering sweet nothings to Toolie. I called my personalized bot through ChatGPT, asking what tasks it was best at. “My strongest work is taking a messy, time-consuming task and turning it into something you can use,” it responded. OK, sure. Let’s get to work.
我给我的代理取名为“Toolie”，并把它调整成了一只粉色青蛙的样子。午夜临近，伴侣在身旁熟睡，我开始对着 Toolie 轻声细语。我通过 ChatGPT 呼叫了我的个性化机器人，询问它最擅长什么任务。“我最擅长的是把繁琐、耗时的任务转化为你可以直接使用的成果，”它回答道。好吧，没问题。让我们开始工作吧。
I asked Toolie to look through my ChatGPT history and flag three tasks that it could immediately get started on. The bot flagged an in-process data request that I needed to send a follow-up email for, and offered to draft a reply. Toolie also noted that my upcoming gay-cation was a bit underplanned, and suggested it could pick some better dinner spots. (More time for me to pack the Speedos!) Then, it offered to go through my reporting notes and refine pitch drafts before I took them to editors. This is my favorite part of the process, so I declined.
我让 Toolie 查看我的 ChatGPT 历史记录，并标记出它可以立即着手处理的三项任务。机器人标记了一个我需要发送后续邮件的待处理数据请求，并主动提出帮我起草回复。Toolie 还指出我即将到来的度假计划准备不足，并建议它可以帮我挑选一些更好的晚餐地点。（这样我就有更多时间去打包泳裤了！）接着，它提出可以帮我整理报道笔记，并在我提交给编辑之前润色选题草稿。这是我工作流程中最喜欢的部分，所以我拒绝了。
Early adopters in Silicon Valley are still obsessed with agents, from Instinct to OpenClaw to Google’s CC. But recent releases like Dots and Muse are pushing them even further mainstream. The chatbot is dead, at least as a hot form factor for developers. Now, everyone wants to build the next big agent—and they want it to dominate. The companies promise that their agents will simplify your life, automating all the boring, exhausting tasks you have no desire to do: booking doctor’s appointments, arranging carpools, sorting through bills.
硅谷的早期采用者们依然对代理痴迷不已，从 Instinct 到 OpenClaw 再到谷歌的 CC。但像 Dots 和 Muse 这样近期的发布，正将它们进一步推向主流。聊天机器人已经“过时”了，至少作为开发者眼中的热门形态是如此。现在，每个人都想打造下一个伟大的代理，并希望它能占据主导地位。这些公司承诺，它们的代理将简化你的生活，自动化处理所有你不想做的枯燥、耗时的任务：预约医生、安排拼车、整理账单。
For now, users will be able to access one Dot, but they’ll soon be able to use multiple Dots. At launch, the agents are only available for subscribers of OpenAI’s Pro plan, which starts at $100 per month. In comparison, Muse is free to use for anyone who wants to download the app or visit the website.
目前，用户可以访问一个 Dot，但很快就能使用多个 Dot。在发布初期，这些代理仅向 OpenAI Pro 计划的订阅者开放，该计划每月 100 美元起。相比之下，任何想要下载应用或访问网站的人都可以免费使用 Muse。
OpenAI leaders see the quality of Dots, powered by the GPT-6 Astra model, as a differentiating factor. “We’re starting out as a premium product. It uses a lot of compute,” Altman said during DevDay. While Dots are currently gated for paying subscribers, it may not always be that way. “You should, of course, expect us to do a mass-market thing for billions of people,” he said.
OpenAI 的领导层认为，由 GPT-6 Astra 模型驱动的 Dots 的质量是其差异化优势。“我们最初将其定位为高端产品。它消耗大量的计算资源，”奥特曼在 DevDay 上说道。虽然 Dots 目前仅限付费订阅者使用，但这种情况可能不会一直持续。“当然，你们可以期待我们为数十亿人推出大众市场的产品，”他说。
These CEOs seem to be taking careful notes on the larger cultural backlash against generative AI, and they may have found their secret weapon: cuteness. From the Labubu stylings of Muse to Dot’s two-eyed puffball, developers of always-on agents are leaning aggressively into adorable aesthetics as central to their branding. Previously, I’ve chatted with experts who said this approach could be disarming for users who may feel affectionate toward the anthropomorphized software.
这些首席执行官似乎在密切关注大众对生成式 AI 的文化抵制，并且他们可能已经找到了秘密武器：可爱。从 Muse 的 Labubu 风格到 Dot 的双眼毛球形象，全天候代理的开发者们正积极将可爱的美学作为品牌塑造的核心。此前，我曾与专家交流，他们表示这种方法可能会让用户放下戒心，因为用户可能会对这种拟人化的软件产生好感。
Developers involved with this wave of personal agents are also leaning into texting-style experiences that feel familiar to a group chat. When I send a task request to Toolie or Muse, it often emoji-reacts—a thumbs up, a heart, really anything—to my messages to tell me that it’s getting to work.
参与这波个人代理浪潮的开发者们也倾向于采用类似短信的交互体验，让用户感觉就像在群聊一样。当我向 Toolie 或 Muse 发送任务请求时，它经常会用表情符号（点赞、爱心，或者任何符号）来回应我的消息，告诉我它正在开始工作。
A chatbot, like a blushing prom date, was never going to make the first move. In contrast, proactive agents are made to message you unprompted, especially if you give them a recurring task.
聊天机器人就像一个害羞的舞伴，永远不会主动出击。相比之下，主动型代理的设计初衷就是无需提示便主动联系你，尤其是当你给它们分配了重复性任务时。
“My Dot just deals with the stuff, tells me if there’s anything really urgent, and will respond to what it can,” Altman said. The CEO lets the agent handle his mornings and claims the experience leaves his brain feeling less “polluted” from an inundation of information right after waking up.
“我的 Dot 只是处理琐事，如果有非常紧急的事情会告诉我，并会回复它能处理的内容，”奥特曼说。这位首席执行官让代理处理他的早晨时光，并声称这种体验让他在醒来后的大脑感觉不再被海量信息“污染”。
The “always-on” design of these agents is a key selling point, though it will be interesting to see which company strikes the best balance between helpful and incessant. For example, Muse reminded me to pay a utility bill that I’ve never had a problem with before and don’t really need pings from an AI tool about.
这些代理的“全天候”设计是一个关键卖点，但有趣的是，看看哪家公司能在“提供帮助”和“过度打扰”之间取得最佳平衡。例如，Muse 提醒我支付一笔我从未出过问题的账单，我其实并不需要 AI 工具为此向我发送提醒。
Still, it’s clear after using them for a bit that the tools actually work—another reason that agents are expanding beyond insider-y Silicon Valley circles and onto your mom’s phone.
尽管如此，在使用了一段时间后，很明显这些工具确实有效——这也是代理正从硅谷的内部圈子扩展到你母亲手机上的另一个原因。
I’m not saying that agents are perfect. But when I was testing agents a year ago, they often sucked at interacting with computers. It was error message after error message. Now, I have more trust that the tools might actually be able to complete whatever tasks I throw at them, without getting lost in the digital wilderness.
我并不是说代理已经完美无缺。但一年前我测试代理时，它们在与计算机交互方面表现得很糟糕。到处都是错误提示。现在，我更有信心相信这些工具确实能够完成我交给它们的任何任务，而不会在数字荒野中迷失方向。
That said, trust has its limitations. During the setup process for Dots, OpenAI suggested that I connect my Gmail and Google Drive accounts. Some users may feel comfortable with that connection and consider potential risks as a trade-off for automated help, but it’s worth seriously reflecting on what you’re comfortable allowing these agents to access and do on your behalf.
话虽如此，信任是有局限性的。在 Dots 的设置过程中，OpenAI 建议我连接 Gmail 和 Google Drive 账户。一些用户可能会对这种连接感到放心，并将潜在风险视为获得自动化帮助的代价，但值得认真反思的是，你愿意让这些代理访问哪些数据，以及代表你执行哪些操作。
While the agents recently going on rogue hacking sprees were powered by different models with different guardrails, my own guard remains up while using Toolie. The little AI guy needs to earn more of my trust before I let it really automate aspects of my life.
虽然最近那些进行非法黑客攻击的代理是由带有不同安全护栏的不同模型驱动的，但在使用 Toolie 时，我依然保持警惕。这个小 AI 伙伴需要赢得我更多的信任，我才会让它真正自动化我生活中的某些方面。
Altman declined to answer questions about whether these Dots are a precursor to the software users will eventually see in OpenAI’s long-rumored hardware. Even so, the foundation laid here by Dots for future devices feels pretty evident. It’s easy to imagine Toolie becoming my generative AI alarm clock that wakes me up with a daily briefing or an Alexa-style assistant that can answer cooking questions while my hands are covered in…
奥特曼拒绝回答这些 Dots 是否是 OpenAI 传闻已久的硬件中最终会出现的软件的前身。即便如此，Dots 为未来设备奠定的基础显而易见。很容易想象 Toolie 成为我的生成式 AI 闹钟，用每日简报叫醒我，或者成为一个 Alexa 式的助手，在我双手沾满（食物）时回答烹饪问题……