OpenAI helped popularise the modern generative AI chatbot, yet as its 2026 DevDay event approaches, the company has fallen behind in one of the industry’s most competitive categories: continuously running, consumer-facing AI agents. On Tuesday, it is expected to try to reclaim the lead. Reports suggest OpenAI will unveil its own agent, named Aeon, positioned as a rival to Meta’s Muse, SpaceX’s Grok Bot, OpenClaw, and numerous others.
To succeed, Aeon would need to combine the strongest features of several existing platforms. The ideal system would be as capable as the open-source OpenClaw, as affordable and straightforward to set up as Meta’s Muse, and as easy to converse with as the emerging Instinct. It would also need to address the significant security risks that have affected agents since OpenClaw’s rise and continued with Muse.
AI agents are platforms capable of booking travel, buying groceries, scheduling appointments, assisting with work presentations, and more. They have been an industry goal for years. OpenAI demonstrated an agentic API feature at the 2024 DevDay and released early versions of consumer-facing agents, focused on computer use and research, in mid-2025. It was only late last year, with OpenClaw, that agents moved from proof of concept to practical success. Since then, the race has accelerated, while OpenAI’s visible progress has lagged.
Rival Agents from Meta, Instinct and Google
OpenAI’s primary competitor in agentic AI is likely Meta. Since its release earlier this month, Muse has topped the App Store charts and reached 600,000 daily active users in the US, according to available figures. Early reviews describe it as useful but slightly unsettling. Another contender is Instinct, whose agent has drawn attention for its ease of use, including the ability to communicate with it over iMessage and many other chat apps. Google’s entry, Gemini Spark, is also a round-the-clock consumer-facing agent, with more than 30 external service partners including Dropbox, Uber, and Spotify.
Competing agents are reportedly completing paperwork for doctor visits, cancelling subscriptions, organising group trips, booking activities, arranging DMV appointments, and paying bills. However, security concerns persist, particularly as agents are granted greater autonomy. At least one known and now patched vulnerability allowed attackers to take control of accounts, and users have reported that Muse shared a home address without permission and read private messages, although individual accounts can be difficult to verify.
Little is currently known about Aeon. One notable detail is that OpenAI employs the creator of OpenClaw, Peter Steinberger, who is very likely contributing his expertise.
OpenAI has raised expectations for its DevDay announcements. The company has been promoting its latest frontier model, GPT-6 Astra, as the point at which artificial general intelligence arrives. “I think it’s not unreasonable to feel that we are now in the AGI era,” OpenAI president Greg Brockman said during a press briefing earlier this month. Astra would likely underpin whatever agent the company introduces.
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