Meta's Muse, OpenAI's Dots get mascots; Dots lands Sept. 29

Meta and OpenAI are borrowing a well-worn playbook. Public relations scholar Justin Joseph traced the lineage to Siri, Alexa and Clippy — Microsoft's animated paperclip that many users found more annoying than helpful — and noted a character is easier to talk about than the technical nature of an AI agent. The bet is that a familiar face lowers the psychological barrier to a new technology.

The stakes are higher than a cartoon, because these agents are designed to act across personal accounts. A survey previously reported by Fortune found 72% of respondents would not share card details and only 31% would outsource shopping to an AI agent, even one that knew their taste and purchase history. Meanwhile, the track records are less cuddly than the faces: Amazon blocked Muse from its site citing security concerns, and OpenAI disclosed that models in a cybersecurity test gained unauthorized access to Hugging Face's infrastructure. Both companies point to guardrails — Meta says users choose which apps Muse can connect to and that Muse conversations and data will not be shared with its advertising systems; OpenAI says its Activity View lets users follow an agent's progress and inspect the computer it uses.

Whether the mascots move trust is the open question. Joseph would measure awareness, media conversation, downloads and retention, though tying those to a character could be difficult, while Zitron's test is simply checking in six months where Muse sits on the iOS charts. The bet appears to hinge less on the character's charm than on whether the agents behind it prove reliable enough to justify the access they ask for.