AI Assistants Can Pay for You Now - Almost (Dottie had a slow morning).

Ah, yet another big week in AI. This is The AI Exhale, hosted by Vibe CFO with Jez and Cam. Five minutes, one thing that matters, or maybe two. We ignore the rest so you can too.

Jez: All right, it's the week of the AI assistants. So we've got OpenAI, one of the big ones, with Dots that's come out. It can use cards saved on shop sites. It asks you first, but basically you can pay for stuff, although it did freeze on stage in their big pitch this week, which is quite funny. Then we've got Cue, C-U-E, by Manus. Very personified, with its own phone, email, wallet and computer. You basically set a bit of a budget, like it's got some pocket money. Then there's Instinct, which is actually a startup thrusting its way up the growth scale. Personal concierge, you just text it like a mate. And then we've got Grokbot.

So again, one of the big frontier models, with Elon Musk and xAI, which is a team of workbots sharing one computer. Cam, another swathe of new and unique products to think about. Are they useful, what's it for, and what's the difference to things that we're aware of like Claude and OpenAI and that sort of chat interface?

Cam: Yeah, for anyone who's not really following AI deeply, what's going on and why is this even any different? I don't know if everyone remembers the start of this year, when OpenClaw just exploded and all the geeks went crazy over it. Mac minis to run OpenClaw. Well, this is just the commercialisation of OpenClaw. So Dots, Cue and Instinct, instead of you getting a Mac mini and running it and changing all this crazy behind the scenes computer stuff to allow it, all of them are basically just putting it on a server, you know, giving it an email, giving it a bank account.

It's a little bit more sophisticated, but basically you don't have to set it all up yourself. They're just spoon feeding us as consumers an OpenClaw. In my mind, when everyone was going crazy in the tech community about OpenClaw, they were saying, this is a massive moment. And the rest of the world was sort of like, what? Why? But this is the flow on, six to nine months later. The big players show up with the wrapped up present of what was OpenClaw, essentially.

Does that make sense?

Jez: Makes sense. But are they good? Does it work? I've been reading quite a bit, and if we look at Dots, well, that even froze on stage. People listen to us and they're hopefully getting a bit of relief, a reprieve from the AI hype wave. To me, it's almost not another thing just yet. It doesn't seem to be working perfectly. With Dots, one of the people at OpenAI called it Dottie. And the quote of the event was when she said, I guess Dottie's having a slow morning, when it froze on stage.

So, gosh, again, if I'm a listener I'm going, AI, should I, shouldn't I? I'm waiting on Copilot. Far out. Let's sit and wait again.

Cam: Well, I think Silicon Valley just think right now that this is a land grab. OpenAI was the mover in 2023. And I think these guys are like, if we don't move now, we will not capture it. So Instinct, for anyone who follows venture capital, these guys raised like a billion dollars at a $10 billion valuation. They've got like 10 or 14 staff. They're still closed. I can't get access to it. It's nuts numbers.

I think that they're all just positioning themselves. So Dots is OpenAI's one. It'll go and do things and ask you your permission. Cue, I don't know if anyone remembers, Cue is Manus. Manus attempted to get bought out maybe six months ago and the Chinese government blocked it, saying it needs to stay with them. But they're more like, they're going to give it a wallet. They're going to give it a computer. They're going to give it an email.

And literally it's like an employee that goes and does things for you. So OpenAI is still trying to control the situation, with the human more in the loop than Manus. Instinct is slightly different as well, where they're using text messages, where you call it or text it. It doesn't actually have an interface, which is wild, right?

Jez: Yeah, really interesting. There's a nice one here. One guy, a tech investor, booked his Thai massage near the dinner he was at with his wife. I suppose the wife was lukewarm about the whole experience. And then it also sorted out a kid's pizza party, and also sent a loving text later saying, hope the party went well. Very much an assistant, to the point where these do start to feel like a person, where it can pay for stuff.

It's like an operating citizen of the world, where it can go around and get tasks done, but go that extra step and execute, with review. They seem to all have that review.

Cam: The one that's left off this as well is Muse. The reason we're all a little bit vague here, by the way, guys, is because it's only opened up to America. So we in Australia can't actually get access to this to tick it off. So it's more just going off what people are saying about it at this stage. We can't get our hands on it. Grokbot, you can. So think of Dots and Cue and Instinct and Muse as generic consumer facing. Book my flights, check my calendar, send an email, more day-to-day for a human. Whereas Grokbot seems to be the one that we as small to medium business owners should be paying attention to, because that's more like, you are my accounts receivable worker. So that's more the business side of it.

Jez: And not so much the business side, but the comedy side of things, and talking of Grok's founder, Elon. Elon bought the dots.com domain for $20 million. So anyone who looks up Dots goes to his stuff. You just can't, I mean, it's just beautiful tech bro pettiness.

And that's your five-ish minutes back. Vibe CFO, Australian founded. An AI CFO for small and medium businesses, out of the box, governed and secure. vibecfo.ai. Now you know.