Happy Monday!
The AI assistant race is on, and it seems like there is a breaking news story every single day. As I’ve been testing every single AI assistant myself, and am now chronically online keeping track of all the updates, it only made sense to start a newsletter to help others stay on top of all that is happening.
That is what I’m here for, at your service, to keep you locked in on what you need to know. This is my first one, so if there is any feedback on how I can make this newsletter more helpful, please let me know!
All the best,
David
What’s Trending?
Personal Agent Protocol (PAP) Sierra and Meta announced a standard for personal assistants to interact with businesses through websites, APIs and business agents. Partners include Shopify, Stripe and Walmart. First specification expected later in October. Separately, Decagon open-sourced a consent-and-trust protocol, co-developed with Instinct using A2A and OAuth, and joined the PAP working group. |  |
AI Assistants Join Group Chats Three different assistants made moves into group chats this week. |  |
a16z’s Top 100 Consumer AI Apps report This report, authored by Olivia Moore, analyzes the top 100 consumer AI apps, examining adoption, usage trends, monetization, and emerging categories. It includes a section on what people using AI assistants are actually talking about. The data was pulled from the 1,500+ people in the AI assistant group chats I have personally put together. Top topics: coding, travel, & shopping |  |
AI Assistant Competition Updates
Instinct announced Instinct Concierge, native customer service, as well as their new hotel booking experience.
GrokBot launched its own email that your bot can use on your behalf for things like signups or bookings.
Pally slashes their pricing, making their entire app free.
Natura announced the release of a ring, bringing their AI assistant to hardware.
Hark founder announced 280K+ users with 4.3M messages sent within 48 hours of their launch.
The Agentic Economy
Stripe’s Patrick Collison: Personal agents could make buyers more rational and weaken businesses’ ability to profit from inattention, coupons, price discrimination and insurance upsells. |  |
Meta’s Alexandr Wang: One month after launch, he highlights the AI assistant wins like people using Muse to save time and money. |  |
Paul Graham: Amazon’s restrictions on AI agents creates an opening for a competitor. |  |
Agents in the Wild
Muse cancels insurance and reportedly saves $700+
An agent runs home automations like controlling the blinds and AC
A user says Hark discovered a forgotten refund email and received an $800 refund
An agent designed and 3D-printed a replacement glue-stick cap
Muse finds a similar standing desk for $300 less
Someone used Instinct to help find a new dog to adopt that looked like their old dog
Prompt of the Week
On Deck
SF AI Assistant Meetup: October 19th If you are in SF, come by our AI assistant meetup! I’m excited to bring together lovers of AI assistants. You will also get the chance to hear from countless AI assistant companies as they pitch why their product is better than the rest! |  |