Agentic artificial intelligence refers to programs that do more than answer questions: they carry out tasks themselves, from buying groceries to managing a to-do list. In 2026 such assistants have become widespread, and Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic and other developers now compete on the market. Each has its own features, and it is easy for a newcomer to get confused.
Those who already use agents advise against looking for a single universal tool and instead recommend assembling a "stack" - a set of several programs. "There is no single agent that can do everything yet," explains AI business consultant Jose Artigas. A stack allows tasks to be distributed: one agent does the work, another checks and critiques the result. This approach helps find errors and improve quality, says Clara Gigling, founder of Oudae Labs.
Different agents have different strengths. Anthropic positions Claude Duet as an assistant for professionals and small businesses, while Meta describes Muse as a tool for saving, health, shopping and even strengthening relationships. Claude Duet, Dots from OpenAI and Grok Bot from xAI are conceived as "colleagues" or even "chiefs of staff," whereas Muse and Instinct from startup Spear Street Technology are closer to personal assistants. However, this does not mean they cannot handle other tasks.
Artigas recommends Claude Duet for side work or launching a business, Dots for debugging and solving technical problems, and Instinct for routine emails and bookings. For beginners, he advises starting with Muse: it has a friendly interface and plenty of prompts.
Experts agree: choosing an agent is a matter of personal preference, so it is best to test them. Gigling advises picking a repetitive task and delegating it to an agent, but setting a specific goal and providing context. Artigas suggests starting with "one annoying routine" that you keep putting off - but only if it is performed online. An agent will not fold laundry or tidy a drawer, but a long email or booking a ticket are suitable tasks.
However, to work effectively an agent needs access to personal data: email, calendar, documents and sometimes bank accounts. This raises privacy concerns. Many companies are already introducing policies describing how agents operate in dedicated cloud environments and how the user can control data storage. Gigling urges people to stay curious but be careful when sharing personal information.