"AI agent" is becoming meaningless — here's the test I use

Half the products calling themselves "AI agents" are chatbots with a new landing page. When I built the Personal Agents section on Tools Hub, I needed a definition that excludes them.

The test: does it do work in the background, on its own computer, with its own identity — while you're not in the chat? If it only replies when you type, it's a companion or a chatbot, not a personal agent.

By that test, seven products qualify right now: OpenAI Dots, Meta Muse, Grok Bot, Manus Cue, Gemini Spark, Claude Cowork and Perplexity Computer. Character.AI, Pi and Replika don't — they're excellent companions, but they wait for you. (Dot, the 2024 personal agent, shut down in October 2025 — a reminder of how fast this category moves.)

The full section, with what each one actually does: https://tools-hub.sweetai.work/best-ai-agents

Curious where you'd draw the line — is a browser agent that only acts while you watch an agent, or a macro with good PR?