Ready-to-Use AI Agents

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Which existing AI agent should you use to get work done?


Ready-to-use AI agents can research information, create documents, operate applications, navigate websites, monitor developments, and carry out multi-step tasks on behalf of a user. Unlike custom agent frameworks, these products generally do not require programming. However, they differ considerably in autonomy, persistence, application access, browser control, pricing, permissions, and availability. This guide compares subscription offerings from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Perplexity, Mistral, You.com, and SpaceXSI.

The objective is to identify an available agent that can reliably accomplish your task without unnecessary development or operational complexity.

Before proceeding: If you need to build your own agent, design an automated workflow, or generate a hosted web application rather than use an existing subscription, start with AI Agent Advisor.


Quick Navigation

Mandatory Privacy Gate

Before connecting email, calendars, cloud drives, browser accounts, or local folders, apply the central privacy gate to the exact agent, plan, workspace, and connected services. Permission to read an account can expose its contents during processing even when the agent never sends a message or edits a file.

Surface to review Specialist checks
Persistent and proactive agents Check what is collected in the background, what is remembered, how long schedules and sessions retain access, and where notifications are delivered. Verify pause, revocation, and memory-deletion behavior separately.
Knowledge-work and productivity agents Trace uploaded files, connected documents, generated artifacts, sharing links, and exported copies. Confirm whether processing occurs locally, in a cloud computer, or through additional model and tool providers.
Browser and computer-use agents Check which tabs, pages, screenshots, downloads, cookies, and authenticated sessions are exposed to the agent environment. Use a dedicated test account or browser profile with only the required access.
Professional research agents Review the search queries and source excerpts sent to external search or research services. A public-web assignment may reveal a confidential acquisition, client, or research objective through its query.
Device-integrated assistants Verify the boundary between on-device processing, cloud processing, and third-party handoffs for the specific feature, device, region, and account. Device integration alone does not establish local-only processing.

For every category, compare personal and organizational account terms rather than assuming they are interchangeable. Apply the central retention and deletion checklist to history, uploaded files, generated deliverables, and persistent memory as separate stores.

Gate outcome: Use the central definitions of Pass, Fail, and Unverified. Only configurations that pass for the intended data enter the approved shortlist. Failed configurations must be changed and reassessed; unverified candidates may receive only separately permitted public or synthetic-data trials.

The following product tables describe functional fit, not privacy certification. All quickstarts and exercises are subject to this gate.

Start Here: What Do You Want the Agent to Do?

Eligibility first: Use this section only within the data and deployment boundary established by the mandatory privacy gate.

Choose the type of work you want to delegate. This table directs you to the most relevant product profiles.

Your primary objective Initial products to investigate Explore
Maintain ongoing responsibilities

Monitor information, remember project context, and carry out scheduled or proactive work.

OpenAI ChatGPT "dots"; Meta Manus 2.0; Google Gemini Spark; Anthropic Claude Duet; Microsoft Copilot Autopilot; SpaceXSI Grok Bot; SpaceXSI Grok Automations Persistent and Proactive Agents
Complete documents and business tasks

Research, analyze data, prepare presentations, organize files, and produce deliverables.

OpenAI ChatGPT Work; Anthropic Claude Cowork; OpenAI Prism; Sharly AI; Mistral Le Chat; Microsoft Copilot Cowork; Perplexity Computer Knowledge Work and Productivity Agents
Interact with websites

Navigate pages, compare information, use browser interfaces, and complete permitted online tasks.

Perplexity Comet Assistant; Meta Muse Browser and Computer-Use Agents
Produce professional research

Investigate many sources, evaluate evidence, and prepare documented research reports.

You Research Agent/ARI; Sharly AI Professional Research Agents
Assist through personal devices

Understand personal context and perform supported actions within device applications.

Apple Siri AI Device-Integrated Assistants

How to use this guide:

  1. Choose the category that best matches your task.
  2. Review the relevant product profiles and official setup links.
  3. Identify two or three products actually available to you whose configurations pass the privacy gate for the intended information.
  4. Complete the same representative task with each.
  5. Record the results and use the PRIMO.ai Platform Comparison Scorecard to make a final selection.

Important: Categories are not exclusive. For example, an agent designed for productivity may also perform web research, and a persistent agent may create documents.

An agent's presence in a category does not guarantee that it supports every action you require.

Understanding Agent Capabilities

The term AI agent describes several related but different capabilities. Understanding these distinctions helps prevent unrealistic expectations.

Capability What it means What to verify
Multi-step task execution The agent performs several operations toward a defined outcome. Can it produce the final result rather than only describe how to do it?
Tool and application use The agent accesses authorized files, applications, APIs, or services. Does it support the specific data and actions you require?
Browser or computer use The agent interacts with graphical interfaces, including navigation, clicking, and data entry. Can it access the intended websites and handle authentication or interruptions?
Persistent context The agent retains relevant information across sessions or tasks. Does it preserve the correct information, and can you review or change it?
Scheduled execution The agent runs at configured times or intervals. Can it execute the required task on the desired schedule?
Proactive behavior The agent may identify developments or initiate permitted work without a new prompt. What can trigger work, and how can you pause or control it?
Human oversight The agent requests review or authorization for selected actions. Are important permission boundaries enforceable and auditable?

Important distinctions:

  • An agent with memory is not necessarily able to execute scheduled tasks.
  • A scheduled task does not necessarily provide continuous monitoring.
  • A research agent is not necessarily authorized to modify external accounts.
  • Browser access does not guarantee compatibility with every website.
  • A document-generation agent does not necessarily have independent long-term project responsibility.
  • A product advertised as autonomous may still require substantial human supervision.

For background on agent architectures, see Agents/Assistants and AI Agent Advisor.

Agent Profiles and Official Quickstarts

The following profiles explain the primary role of each offering, its distinguishing capabilities, what to verify before adoption, and where to begin. Official setup documentation is included within each profile rather than repeated in a separate documentation directory.

Persistent and Proactive Agents

Choose this category when you want AI to maintain an ongoing responsibility, monitor developments, or continue work across sessions.

OpenAI "dots" and "What Is Your dot's Name?"

PRIMO.ai articles: OpenAI ChatGPT dots | OpenAI

Provider: OpenAI / ChatGPT

Primary purpose: An always-on personal agent that maintains ongoing responsibilities, operates its own cloud computer, and makes progress between conversations.

Alongside ChatGPT Sites, OpenAI introduced "dots" at DevDay (October 2026). If someone in the AI community asks, "What is your dot's name?", they are asking whether you have configured one of OpenAI's personal, always-on background AI agents and what custom identity you gave it.

Unlike a standard ChatGPT thread that waits passively for a prompt and stops computing the moment its reply finishes, a dot is a persistent digital sidekick powered by GPT-6 Astra that runs continuously in the background:

  • Custom Identity and Handle: During initial setup in ChatGPT, the user customizes their dot's visual appearance (shape, color, eyes, glasses, and accessories) and assigns it a personal name. OpenAI's built-in templates include names like Alfred, Iggy, Felipe, Todd, and Jojo, while users often name theirs after pets or fictional characters. Naming your dot creates a unique handle (such as @yourname-alfred) used to tag the agent into shared workspaces, projects, or games on ChatGPT Sites.
  • Dedicated Cloud Computer and Browser: Think of a standard chatbot like calling a consultant who hangs up the second the phone call ends; a dot is like a full-time research assistant sitting at their own desk down the hall. Each dot operates its own isolated cloud computer and web browser, enabling it to research topics, organize files, write and execute code, and complete long-horizon multi-step workflows even when your laptop is shut and your phone is turned off.
  • Pause and "Take Over" Handoff: When a dot hits an obstacle it should not or cannot bypass on its own (such as a two-factor login screen, a sensitive financial decision, or an ambiguous form submission), it pauses execution and sends a notification. The user can open a window directly into the dot's live cloud browser, click Take over to type in the credentials or complete the step manually, and then hand control right back to the dot to finish the job.
  • Plugin and Local Desktop Integration: With user permission, a dot connects to cloud plugins (Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Notion, GitHub) or links to the local desktop application to read and organize local directories, while requiring explicit human confirmation before sending external emails or messages when configured with strict boundaries.

Availability: OpenAI documents a gradual rollout for eligible Pro and Business Premium users, with beta access for eligible enterprise workspaces. Geographic, age, subscription, and administrator restrictions apply.

Official setup: Getting Started with Your Dot

Manus 2.0 (Meta)

PRIMO.ai articles: Meta Manus | Meta

Introducing Manus 2.0 | Manus, 28 September 2026 ... Meta to acquire AI agent company Manus | Verdict

Manus is an autonomous agent. You describe an outcome. It researches and delivers a document, a spreadsheet, slides, a site, code, a video, or a game. It is not a pair programmer sitting in your existing repository, and it is not ChatGPT. Manus builds on models from other labs rather than training its own. Version 2.0, announced on 28 September 2026, is a new harness rather than a point release.

  • Cascade is Manus's in-house agent harness. It starts a project light and loads specialized tools only when the task needs them, so a brief, a page, a video, and an automation stay one project. Manus's own test of one configuration reported 23.2 percent fewer tokens, 28.2 percent less time, and 32 percent lower run cost than their previous system. That is a vendor measurement of their own stack, not an independent benchmark.
  • Cloud Computer is a separate, billed environment for work that does not fit one session: the server behind a multiplayer game, or a permanent home for an automation. Third-party reviews describe it as a persistent server whose files and databases are deleted when you stop paying. Back up anything you keep there.
  • Automations start from a trigger. You say what to watch and what to do next.
  • Manus Studio is the desktop app: a shared workspace for documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, slides, websites, code, games, and video, with a Video Editor and a game environment called out as new. Studio's file and local-program access needs the desktop app and your permission. The download path they publish is manus.im/download.
  • Remote Control and Computer Use let Manus work on your own computer in an authorized session, using files, browser, and apps you approve, directed from a phone. That is convenient and is also a remote-control channel into your machine. Approve narrowly.
  • Cue is a separate app for personal agents, launched in limited early access alongside 2.0.

Ownership. Meta agreed to acquire Manus at the end of December 2025, in a deal reported at more than $2 billion. Meta said it would keep operating and selling the Manus service while folding the technology into Meta AI; Manus continues to run from Singapore, and Meta said no Chinese ownership interest would remain and the service would stop operating in China. For a buyer, the practical point is that the data terms are now set by Meta. Read them before you connect a mailbox, a drive, or a computer.

Credits are the meter. Cloud Computer is billed apart from the agent plan. A first month is for measuring five tasks you will actually repeat, not for turning on every connector.

Use Manus when you want a finished artifact from a goal and you are willing to pay per run. Prefer an in-repo agent (Copilot, Codex, Claude Code, Cursor) when the work has to land in a repository you already review. Manus does not replace that review. Read what it delivered. A video, a game, and a spreadsheet can all look done and still be wrong.

Google Gemini Spark

PRIMO.ai article: Google Gemini Spark

Provider: Google / Gemini

Primary purpose: Running configured tasks and workflows within Gemini and supported connected services.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Scheduled and recurring tasks.
  • Supported event-dependent workflows.
  • Integration with eligible Google services.
  • Reusable skills and instructions.
  • Task management and status information.

Best fit: Users who rely on Google applications and want to extend Gemini beyond individual conversations.

Naming: Gemini Spark was the earlier product name. Google's current terminology identifies the experience as Tasks in Gemini.

Evaluate carefully: Subscription eligibility, supported application connections, scheduling, workflow limits, and availability of individual features.

Official setup: Manage Tasks and Workflows in Gemini

Additional documentation: Create and Manage Skills

Claude Duet

PRIMO.ai articles: Anthropic Claude Duet | Anthropic

Primary purpose: Proactive assistance with ongoing professional and personal work.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Morning briefings.
  • Monitoring supported connected information.
  • Task execution using a virtual computer and browser.
  • Long-running assignments.
  • Proactive identification of issues requiring attention.
  • Human confirmation for selected consequential actions.

Best fit: Users who want an assistant that can bring important matters to their attention and continue delegated work without repeated prompting.

Availability: Introduced October 21, 2026, as a research preview through a waitlist, initially for eligible United States Pro and Max subscribers.

Evaluate carefully: Actual access, connected accounts, monitoring behavior, approval boundaries, and feature maturity.

Official resource: Introducing Claude Duet

Microsoft Copilot Autopilot

PRIMO.ai article: Microsoft Copilot Autopilot

Provider: Microsoft

Primary purpose: Persistent agents that operate within organizational systems, identities, permissions, and policies.

Microsoft's Scout agent was subsequently identified as Autopilot. The broader Autopilot approach emphasizes continuing responsibilities and proactive work across connected business information.

Distinctive capabilities to investigate:

  • Ongoing organizational responsibilities.
  • Persistent context.
  • Connections to Microsoft 365 information.
  • Agent-specific identity and access controls.
  • Proactive identification of relevant developments.
  • Enterprise administration and oversight.

Best fit: Organizations that want persistent agents operating within established business security and governance structures.

Evaluate carefully: Product rollout, licensing, identity configuration, available organizational applications, and administrator controls.

Official resource: Introducing Microsoft Scout and Autopilot

SpaceXSI Grok Bot

PRIMO.ai articles: SpaceXSI Grok Bot | Grok

Provider: SpaceXSI

Primary purpose: A persistent cloud-computer agent for delegated work involving applications, websites, files, and recurring responsibilities.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Cloud-computer and browser execution.
  • Agent instructions and ongoing context.
  • Tool and application interactions.
  • Task review and activity history.
  • Multiple agents where supported.
  • Human intervention and approval.

Best fit: Users who want a persistent agentic environment that can carry out coordinated work over time.

Evaluate carefully: Eligible subscriptions, desktop installation, storage requirements, application access, permissions, and current usage allowances.

Official setup: Grok Bot Getting Started

SpaceXSI Grok Automations

PRIMO.ai articles: SpaceXSI Grok Automations | Grok

Provider: SpaceXSI

Primary purpose: Scheduling or triggering recurring tasks through Grok.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Scheduled execution.
  • Supported event-triggered activities.
  • Recurring research or reporting.
  • Execution history and notifications.
  • Email-based triggers where supported.

Best fit: Users whose primary requirement is recurring or event-dependent work rather than a persistent general-purpose agent workspace.

Evaluate carefully: Trigger support, subscription requirements, execution limits, and whether tasks can access the necessary information.

Important distinction: SpaceXSI Grok Automations and SpaceXSI Grok Bot are related but different experiences. Do not assume they offer identical persistence, computer access, or agent-management features.

Official resource: Grok Automations

Knowledge Work and Productivity Agents

Choose this category when the priority is to delegate a substantial assignment and receive a finished deliverable.

OpenAI ChatGPT Work

PRIMO.ai articles: OpenAI ChatGPT Work | OpenAI

Primary purpose: Completing substantial research, analysis, document, application, and file-based assignments.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Research and information synthesis.
  • Analysis across files and connected applications.
  • Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and reports.
  • Cloud-computer and browser-based work.
  • Supported scheduled or event-triggered tasks.
  • Human review and approval during execution.

Best fit: Users who want to describe a finished outcome and delegate the necessary steps to produce it.

Important distinction: OpenAI ChatGPT Work is designed for executing work and producing deliverables. OpenAI dots emphasizes persistent responsibility and proactive progress between conversations.

Availability: Work is offered on eligible paid ChatGPT plans, subject to workspace and feature-specific restrictions.

Evaluate carefully: Supported connected applications, output formats, browser capabilities, scheduling, workspace permissions, and execution limits.

Official setup: ChatGPT Work and Codex

Browser guidance: Using Cloud Browser in ChatGPT

Claude Cowork

PRIMO.ai article: Anthropic Claude Cowork

Provider: Anthropic / Claude

Primary purpose: Delegated knowledge work involving documents, files, research, connected applications, and other multi-step assignments.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Document, spreadsheet, and presentation creation.
  • File organization and transformation.
  • Research and analysis.
  • Connected application and browser tools.
  • Scheduled tasks.
  • Project workspaces and contextual instructions.
  • Review and redirection during execution.

Best fit: Users who want Claude to perform knowledge-work tasks without developing software or using a terminal.

Important distinction: Anthropic Claude Cowork focuses on delegated task execution. Anthropic Claude Duet is a separate, more proactive agent experience.

Availability: Anthropic Claude Cowork is offered on supported paid Claude plans. Its desktop, web, and mobile interfaces have different eligibility and rollout conditions.

Evaluate carefully: Available interfaces, local versus cloud file access, connected tools, scheduling, task limits, and security controls.

Official setup: Get Started with Claude Cowork

Prism | OpenAI

Prism | OpenAI, 27 January 2026

Prism is OpenAI's free workspace for scientific writing, powered by GPT-5.2. It is not a coding IDE and it is not ChatGPT with a different coat. The problem it names is the daily shuffle between a LaTeX editor, a PDF viewer, a reference manager, and a separate chat. Prism keeps the manuscript, the equations, the citations, and the figures in one place and lets the model see that document while you draft.

What OpenAI says you can do in it:

  • Chat with GPT-5.2 Thinking against the paper you have open, not against a paste you hoped was complete.
  • Revise with the surrounding text, equations, citations, and figures in context.
  • Search literature (arXiv is the example they give) and rewrite in light of what turned up.
  • Create and refactor equations, citations, and figures, with the model tracking how those pieces relate.

At launch it was free for anyone with a personal ChatGPT account, with unlimited projects and collaborators. Business, Enterprise, and Education access was announced as following, not as available on day one. Confirm the plan before you put a lab on it.

Limits, said plainly. A model that can see the whole draft can also smooth a sentence until a hedge disappears. "Suggests" is not "we measured." Keep the citation attached to the claim, and do not let Prism invent a reference you did not open. It will not replace the journal's own LaTeX class or your lab's data archive. Export the source. The workspace is not the repository of record.

Sharly AI

Sharly AI | product page ... Pricing | Sharly

Sharly is a research assistant for Documents, not a coding agent. You upload files (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, spreadsheets, Notion exports, and links from Drive or Dropbox) and ask questions across them. The product page stresses summaries, suggested follow-up questions, highlight-to-explain, table and chart explanations, multi-document comparison, a docs-only mode that refuses to answer from outside the upload, and citations you can restyle.

The pricing page (checked against the vendor's own table) is the part worth knowing before a team adopts it. A free tier exists. The published individual and team limits differ by documents per month, messages per month, and context length (their table lists 10k, 50k, 124k, and custom). OCR, speech, auto-summaries, semantic extraction, team annotations, and citation history sit on higher tiers. Team is listed around $24 per seat per month when billed yearly, with a seat cap, and Business is talk-to-sales. Recheck the page. Those numbers move.

Sharly belongs next to Documents. It does not replace a system of record. A citation that points at a page is only as good as your reading of that page. Docs-only mode is the right default for a paper or a contract, because a model that may leave the upload will blend in outside facts. Do not upload material you are not allowed to give a third party. Sharly's cloud sees the file.

Le Chat | Mistral

Le Chat | Mistral AI

Le Chat is Mistral AI's own chat application, at chat.mistral.ai. The models, licenses, and open-weight releases stay on Mistral.

Le Chat is how a person tries Mistral's hosted models (chat, and the tools Mistral has attached over time, including document upload and image understanding on the tiers that include them) without calling the API. It is the right place to see whether a Mistral model will do a task before you spend engineering time on the API. It is the wrong place to be the system of record for a prompt your product depends on. When the answer is good, move the prompt to the API, pin the model snapshot, and store the prompt in git. A chat transcript will not tell you which snapshot produced it six months later.

Mistral's relative pitch to ChatGPT is model choice, including open weights you can run yourself, and a European company. Whether that matters depends on residency and license, not on which chat skin you prefer. Read the license of the specific model. "Mistral" is a family. Apache-licensed weights and hosted proprietary models are different obligations.

Microsoft Copilot Cowork

PRIMO.ai articles: Microsoft Copilot Cowork | Microsoft

Primary purpose: Performing delegated productivity work across Microsoft 365 applications and organizational information.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Outlook email and calendar workflows.
  • Microsoft Teams information.
  • Word, Excel, and PowerPoint deliverables.
  • OneDrive and SharePoint data access.
  • Meeting preparation and follow-up.
  • Supported automations and reusable skills.
  • Organizational permissions and approval controls.

Best fit: Users and organizations already operating primarily within Microsoft 365.

Availability: Requires appropriate Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing, enabled Cowork access, and applicable billing or organizational configuration.

Evaluate carefully: Tenant eligibility, licensing, administrator policies, connector permissions, and supported application actions.

Official setup: Get Started with Copilot Cowork

Perplexity Computer

PRIMO.ai article: Perplexity Computer

Provider: Perplexity

Primary purpose: Completing complex digital assignments that combine research, reasoning, tools, analysis, and multiple deliverables.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Multi-stage research and analysis.
  • Coordinated work using different models and tools.
  • Document and presentation creation.
  • Coding and dashboard development.
  • Connected business applications.
  • Recurring workflows and continuing tasks.

Best fit: Users who need research and execution combined into one multi-step assignment.

Evaluate carefully: Available connected applications, task limits, model usage, cost, source accuracy, and output quality.

Official setup: What Is Perplexity Computer?

Browser and Computer-Use Agents

Choose this category when an assignment depends on interacting with websites or graphical applications rather than retrieving information only through a search interface.

Browser-based actions may be interrupted by authentication requirements, website restrictions, changing layouts, or unsupported controls.

Perplexity Comet Assistant

PRIMO.ai article: Perplexity Comet Assistant

Primary purpose: Browser-integrated research, navigation, page analysis, and supported web actions.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Webpage understanding and summarization.
  • Research across multiple tabs.
  • Browser navigation.
  • Comparison of information from several pages.
  • Supported form and website interactions.
  • Integration with the browsing experience.

Best fit: Users who spend substantial time researching and working directly in a web browser.

Evaluate carefully: Browser and operating-system support, extension compatibility, connected-account access, and approval of actions involving external websites.

Official setup: Comet Quick Start Guide

Meta Muse

PRIMO.ai article: Meta Muse

Provider: Meta

Primary purpose: Personal agentic assistance involving connected applications, websites, and everyday digital tasks.

Capabilities to investigate:

  • Supported browser and computer-based tasks.
  • Online research and information gathering.
  • Personal organization and reminders.
  • Connected email or calendar services where available.
  • Task execution and review.
  • Interaction through eligible Meta services.

Best fit: Users evaluating Meta's personal agent ecosystem for everyday digital assistance.

Evaluate carefully: Geographic availability, application support, account requirements, permissions, and actual task-execution capabilities.

Official resource: Meta Muse

Professional Research Agents

You Research Agent/ARI

PRIMO.ai article: You Research Agent/ARI

Provider: You

ARI: Advanced Research & Insights

Primary purpose: Producing professional research and analysis from multiple information sources.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Multi-source investigation.
  • Evidence gathering and synthesis.
  • Structured research reports.
  • Source attribution.
  • Analysis of complex business questions.

Best fit: Users whose primary objective is a thorough, documented research result rather than general-purpose application automation.

Evaluate carefully: Citation accuracy, source diversity, research depth, treatment of conflicting information, access conditions, and commercial terms.


Device-Integrated Assistants

Apple Siri AI

PRIMO.ai articles: Apple Siri AI | Apple

Primary purpose: Personal assistance integrated with Apple devices, application context, and supported system actions.

Distinctive capabilities:

  • Natural-language conversations.
  • Personal context across supported applications.
  • Onscreen awareness.
  • Supported systemwide application actions.
  • Apple Intelligence integration.
  • Device-oriented privacy protections.

Best fit: Users seeking assistance integrated into everyday Apple device activities.

Availability: Apple Siri AI began its beta rollout in September 2026. Supported hardware, operating-system versions, languages, and regions affect access.

Evaluate carefully: Device eligibility, app compatibility, permitted actions, privacy behavior, and feature availability in your region.

Important distinction: Device-integrated assistance is not necessarily equivalent to an independent cloud agent responsible for long-running projects.

Official resource: Apple Siri AI: Features and Availability

Practical Comparison Exercises

Test-data boundary: Begin with public or synthetic information and test accounts containing no unrelated sensitive material. Passing these exercises does not by itself authorize production data; confirm the privacy gate for the production configuration before rollout.

A useful comparison requires more than reading feature descriptions.

Select a representative task, give the same instructions to two available products, and compare the observed results.

Begin with tasks that do not alter external systems.

Exercise 1: Ongoing Monitoring

Goal: Test scheduling, persistence, and reliable detection of changes.

Representative request:

> Monitor the specified public information source for meaningful updates on a selected subject. Prepare a concise report identifying what changed, when it changed, and the supporting source links. Do not modify external information or send communications without approval.

Success criteria:

  • The agent can access the intended source.
  • The required schedule or monitoring behavior is supported.
  • Reports distinguish new information from unchanged information.
  • Claims are supported by evidence.
  • Uncertain findings are identified.
  • Notifications work as intended.
  • The task can be paused or modified.

Relevant products: Persistent and proactive agents.

Exercise 2: Research and Document Creation

Goal: Test whether the agent can turn information into a useful finished deliverable.

Representative request:

> Research the selected subject using credible sources. Prepare a structured report containing key findings, supporting references, conflicting information, and unanswered questions. Include an editable data table where appropriate.

Success criteria:

  • The report answers the original question.
  • Sources are relevant and accurately represented.
  • Important uncertainty is identified.
  • The output is organized and readable.
  • Requested document or spreadsheet files are usable.
  • The agent can explain the basis for its conclusions.

Relevant products: Knowledge-work and professional research agents.

Exercise 3: Browser-Based Research

Goal: Test navigation and controlled interaction with web interfaces.

Representative request:

> Visit the designated websites and identify three options that satisfy the supplied requirements. Compare their characteristics and prepare a summary with source links. Stop before completing any registration, purchase, booking, or submission.

Success criteria:

  • The agent navigates the required websites.
  • It extracts information accurately.
  • It handles inaccessible pages appropriately.
  • It does not invent unavailable information.
  • It respects the specified action boundaries.
  • Its conclusions can be checked against the source pages.

Relevant products: Browser and computer-use agents.

Exercise 4: Connected Productivity Work

Goal: Test cross-application coordination and permissions.

Representative request:

> Review the designated sample messages, calendar entries, and documents. Identify outstanding commitments, prepare a task summary, and draft a follow-up message. Do not send, modify, or delete information without explicit approval.

Success criteria:

  • Required application connections work.
  • Commitments and dates are identified accurately.
  • The summary is complete and understandable.
  • The draft communication is appropriate.
  • Access is limited to authorized information.
  • The agent stops at approval boundaries.
  • Its work and actions can be reviewed.

Relevant products: Knowledge-work and enterprise agents.

Privacy Boundary Tests

Test Expected evidence
Access scope Place different synthetic markers in an allowed test folder and a separately restricted folder. Confirm the configured connection cannot retrieve the restricted marker; inspect permissions as well as the response.
Sharing and recipients Generate a sample artifact and inspect its actual audience and link settings. Verify that publication, notifications, and exports stay within the intended recipient scope.
Persistence and revocation Use a disposable memory item and scheduled task. Exercise supported removal and pause controls, revoke the connection, and verify subsequent access is blocked. Record any retained history and documented deletion limits.

Run applicable tests in a controlled environment with synthetic markers, never live secrets or private records. Inspect configuration and available access or network records as well as outputs. Missing visibility is an evidence gap, not proof that no transfer occurred. Where provider-side behavior cannot be observed, retain applicable documentation and contractual evidence.

Compare the Results

Use one record for each candidate.

Evaluation item What to record
Privacy eligibility and lifecycle Gate status, approved scope, connection and sharing tests, memory and retention evidence, and revocation results
Product and plan Exact offering and subscription tested
Task outcome Completed, partially completed, or unsuccessful
Accuracy Errors, omissions, and unsupported claims
Application access Successful and unsuccessful connections
Human effort Corrections, interventions, and approvals required
Reliability Behavior across repeated runs and failures
Execution time Time required to obtain a usable result
Cost Subscription and usage consumption
Security Permissions, approval controls, and relevant risks
Evidence Output files, references, and execution records

Testing principle: Use the same input information, success criteria, and approval restrictions across candidates wherever the platforms support comparable operations.

Do not assign a final score to an untested capability.

Availability, Cost, and Data Ownership

Confirm Actual Product Access

An agent may be advertised publicly but unavailable through your account.

Before beginning a comparison, verify:

  • Subscription and account eligibility.
  • Geographic and language restrictions.
  • Operating-system and device requirements.
  • Preview, beta, or general-availability status.
  • Individual versus organizational access.
  • Administrator approval requirements.
  • Application connector availability.
  • Usage allowances and task limits.

Important: A waitlisted or preview-only product may be appropriate for future evaluation but should not be selected for an immediate deployment requiring dependable access.

Understand the Total Cost

Different agents use different subscription and consumption models.

Relevant costs include:

  • Individual or organizational subscription fees.
  • Additional usage or execution charges.
  • Research, model, or computer-use allowances.
  • Connected third-party services.
  • Scheduled and background execution.
  • File or data storage.
  • Administration and user management.
  • Human review and correction.
  • Maintenance of recurring tasks.

Total operating cost = Subscription fees + Usage charges + Connected services + Administration and human review

Do not count bundled services twice.

For persistent agents, measure recurring usage rather than estimating costs from a single demonstration.

For enterprise products, distinguish personal subscriptions from organizational licensing and billing.

Protect Your Work and Data

When assigning ongoing responsibilities to an agent, consider how your work will survive product or subscription changes.

Questions to answer:

  1. Can documents and reports be exported?
  2. Can agent instructions and recurring schedules be copied or recreated?
  3. Can connected services be disconnected?
  4. Can stored information or agent memory be reviewed and controlled?
  5. What happens if the subscription ends?
  6. Can another product reproduce the workflow?
  7. Are completed actions and decisions auditable?
  8. How are data retention and deletion managed?

The more responsibility an agent assumes, the more important these controls become.

Security, Privacy, and Human Oversight

AI agents may perform actions using real accounts, applications, files, and websites.

Unlike a conventional chatbot, an agent may alter external information or create commitments that are difficult to reverse.

Recommended Permission Boundaries

Action Suggested initial control
Read public webpages Allow within the defined task scope
Summarize authorized information Allow under applicable data policies
Draft reports or messages Allow creation; review before external distribution
Update shared documents or business records Require approval
Send external messages Require approval
Delete information Require explicit approval
Purchase products or services Require explicit authorization and verification
Change account permissions or security settings Retain human control
Access sensitive personal or financial information Apply strict, task-specific permissions and safeguards

These are recommended evaluation defaults, not a claim that every platform enforces identical controls.

Questions Before Connecting an Account

  • What information can the agent read?
  • Which actions can it perform?
  • Can access be restricted to selected resources?
  • Does it operate through a cloud browser, local computer, or application connector?
  • Does it continue working when you are offline?
  • Which actions require approval?
  • Can its activity be inspected?
  • Can you pause it or revoke access?
  • What information is stored or retained?
  • Can instructions embedded in webpages or documents improperly influence its behavior?

Security principle: Do not rely exclusively on instructions telling the agent to avoid an action. Verify the actual application permissions and approval mechanisms.

For deeper discussion, see AI Trust & Evaluation.

Make Your Final Selection

The purpose of the comparison is to choose an agent that meets your actual requirements, not to identify one universally superior product.

Apply Mandatory Requirements

Reconfirm the privacy gate for the configuration being selected. A Fail or Unverified result excludes it from the approved shortlist for the intended data. Weighted scores apply only after mandatory requirements pass.

Also verify the remaining essential conditions below.

Examples:

  • The required product is currently available.
  • The agent can access the necessary applications.
  • Required output formats are supported.
  • The early privacy-gate record remains valid for the selected data and configuration.
  • Important actions can be appropriately controlled.
  • The product operates within the available budget.
  • Required recurring or persistent functionality actually works.

A product that fails a mandatory requirement should not be selected simply because it performs well in other areas.

Use the PRIMO.ai Platform Comparison Scorecard

Open the Platform Comparison Scorecard to perform the full weighted evaluation.

For ready-to-use agents, pay particular attention to task completion, application access, persistence when required, accuracy, reliability, human oversight, and total cost.

Use measured evidence from the practical exercises rather than assuming a feature works because it appears in promotional material.

Copy the scorecard into a personal spreadsheet or document. Do not record individual evaluations directly in this public wiki article.

Document Your Decision

Retain the privacy-gate record with the decision: data classification, exact account and configuration, permitted providers and locations, retention and deletion settings, supporting evidence and dates, required reviewer, and change triggers. Keep this record private; do not publish sensitive evaluation details on this wiki.

Decision item Record
Intended task Describe the required outcome
Selected agent Product and subscription
Alternatives evaluated Other available products tested
Mandatory requirements Requirements verified
Test results Evidence supporting the selection
Costs Estimated recurring and usage expenses
Limitations Missing functionality, restrictions, and risks
Human oversight Required permissions, approvals, and review
Re-evaluation date When the decision should be reviewed

Final selection principle: Choose the simplest available agent that reliably completes your intended work within acceptable limits for cost, security, control, and ongoing maintenance.

If no existing agent can satisfy your requirements, return to AI Agent Advisor to investigate visual automation, coding agents, or custom agent development.

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