AI agents are AI tools that do a job for you, step by step, instead of only answering a question. Here are three stories from the last few days. I opened every source myself. When a number or claim comes from the company selling the product, I say so.
Instinct brings its AI agent into group chats
Instinct, an AI agent app, announced on Monday 5 October that it is adding group chats, according to TechCrunch. The agent can join a conversation even when some friends have not signed up to Instinct.
TechCrunch lists use cases such as trip planning, event tickets, fantasy leagues and carpools. It starts with early access users, and wider access is said to follow "soon".
The privacy points come from Instinct's founder, Noah Shinn, who posted them on X, as TechCrunch reports. Your personal agent asks permission before it connects with the group's agent. You choose which groups to trust, and you can take that trust back at any time. The group's agent is kept separate from your personal accounts.
My take: this is one source, TechCrunch, and the privacy rules are the founder's own description. I have not seen anyone outside the company test them. An AI that sits in a chat with your friends needs that kind of check.
TikTok adds a shopping agent and one-click checkout
TikTok announced on 5 October a Shopping Assistant, which it calls "a conversational AI agent designed to help users discover and purchase products". TechCrunch reports it can remember your preferences and answer questions about sizing, shipping and availability. TikTok also added one-click checkout for products shown in the For You feed.
TikTok names Salesforce, Shopify, Shoplazza and Stripe, "among others", as partners.
TechCrunch adds its own view: TikTok seems to want people to stay inside its app instead of using outside AI tools such as ChatGPT. The article also repeats numbers from TikTok's own Economic Impact Report: $81 billion in GDP for US businesses, and 54 million Americans who said they bought something after watching a TikTok video. The $15.8 billion figure is eMarketer's estimate of TikTok Shop's 2025 US sales, not TikTok's.
My take: the report numbers and the description of the assistant come from TikTok itself. I have not tried it.
Dubai launches an agentic AI accelerator for government
On 5 October the Dubai Future Foundation launched the Agentic AI for Government Services Accelerator, The National reports. It helps government bodies build prototypes of AI-powered services faster.
The first phase brings together 33 Dubai government entities and looks at more than 300 public-facing use cases to find the ones with the most potential for agentic AI. The Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence organises it, with Digital Dubai and the Dubai Electronic Security Centre. Companies certified under the Dubai AI Seal take part.
The article describes agentic AI as AI that breaks a goal into smaller tasks, fixes errors as it goes, and can manage work lasting hours or days. The Dubai Electronic Security Centre's chief executive, Yousuf Al Shaibani, said: "Cybersecurity cannot be an afterthought in the adoption of AI."
My take: this is a launch announcement, so it is early. It is one source, The National. I will be watching which services actually reach residents.
What I take from this week
- Agents are moving into places where other people are involved, like group chats and shops, so permission and trust rules matter more than before.
- Many of the claims this week come from the companies themselves, so I am treating them as claims until someone independent checks them.
- Governments are starting to plan for agents, and Dubai is one of them. Security was raised at the launch, which is a good sign.
I will test these tools on real tasks when I can, using my five checks.