Claude Duet vs OpenAI Dots, Grok Bot and Meta Muse: which AI agent can run your ads?
Quick answer: Claude Duet is Anthropic's always-on agent, opened on 21 October 2026 as a US research preview for Claude Pro and Max. It's Anthropic's answer to Grok Bot, Meta Muse and OpenAI Dots: all four work on their own cloud computer, reach into your apps and ask before they act. For PPC the difference is ad accounts. Muse connects Meta ad accounts natively; Duet, Dots and Grok Bot reach Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Microsoft Ads through a connector such as AdPlug.
I've run Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads for B2B companies for 12 years, with over $100M of spend through my hands, and I build AdPlug, the connector that gives Claude, ChatGPT and Grok Bot access to ad accounts. For this piece I went through every launch post, help article and early review of the four agents, and lined them up on the question PPC people actually ask: what can it do with my ad accounts?
Updated
Four of the biggest AI companies shipped the same idea inside eleven weeks: an agent that lives on its own cloud computer, works across your apps while you're away, and taps you on the shoulder when it needs a decision. Claude Duet is Anthropic's version, and it arrived last. Here's how it stacks up against Grok Bot, Meta Muse and OpenAI Dots, and what each one can actually do with a Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads or Meta Ads account.
What is Claude Duet?
Claude Duet is Anthropic's proactive agent. It opened on 21 October 2026 as a research preview, by waitlist, for Claude Pro and Max subscribers in the US. It isn't on Team or Enterprise plans yet, and Anthropic says those come later.
The short version of what it does, from Anthropic's own pages:
- It runs on Claude Opus 5.5, in its own cloud computer with its own browser, so it keeps working after you close the app.
- Every morning it sends a short brief on what matters across your connected apps, then checks them every few hours and messages you when something needs you.
- You talk to it in one thread, by typing or sending a voice message, and it can split recurring topics into channels.
- It hands back finished work: docs, sheets, decks, dashboards.
- Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows you exactly what it's about to do and waits.
It's an app for iPhone and Android, and it runs on claude.ai on a computer. It's included with Pro and Max at no extra cost during the preview, but it shares your plan's usage limits, background checks included. The part that matters most for anyone already using Claude: Anthropic says the apps you've connected to Claude carry over to Duet.
Why Duet is Anthropic's answer to Grok Bot, Dots and Muse
Look at the dates and the pattern is hard to miss:
| Agent | Maker | Launched |
|---|---|---|
| Grok Bot | SpaceXSI (formerly xAI), running on Cursor | 11 August 2026 |
| Meta Muse | Meta | 8 September 2026 (US) |
| OpenAI Dots | OpenAI | 29 September 2026 |
| Claude Duet | Anthropic | 21 October 2026 (US research preview) |
The press read it the same way. The Decoder's headline was “Anthropic takes on Grok Bot, Meta's Muse, and OpenAI's Dots”, and Dan Shipper, who had two weeks with it for Every, put it in a category “occupied by Dot, Meta's Muse, X's Grok Bot, and Instinct.”
All four share the same bones: a cloud computer of their own, connected apps, work that carries on while you're away, and a pause for your approval before anything sensitive. As VentureBeat put it, “human approval and cloud isolation therefore do not, by themselves, differentiate Duet.” So the differences sit in the details: who can buy it, which apps it reaches, and what it asks before it acts.
The four agents side by side
| Claude Duet | OpenAI Dots | Grok Bot | Meta Muse | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Claude Pro or Max, no extra cost during the preview | ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium | The X Subscription Premium, Super or Ultra, or a paid Cursor plan | Free, Power ($20 a month) or Maximum ($100 a month) |
| Where | US only, by waitlist | Pro outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK; Business Premium everywhere | No country limit in its docs | US, Canada and Japan |
| Apps | iPhone, Android, claude.ai | Inside ChatGPT | macOS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android | iPhone, Android, muse.ai, WhatsApp |
| Model | Claude Opus 5.5 | GPT-6 Astra | Not named in its docs | Muse Spark |
| Your own connectors | The connectors on your Claude account, added in Claude | Custom MCP plugins; write actions only on Business, Enterprise and Edu | Custom MCP servers, added by asking the Bot | Custom connectors built by asking Muse; MCP isn't mentioned |
| Recurring work | Morning brief, checks every few hours, channels | Scheduled tasks | Routines in the cloud | Recurring tasks in an Upcoming tab |
| Asks before | Sending, paying, signing, deleting | Whatever your custom rules say | Allow once, Always allow or Deny, per action | Anything that publishes, sends or spends |
| Teams | Not yet | Business Premium; Enterprise and Edu in beta | Team Bots | No team plan |
Sources: Anthropic's Duet help article, OpenAI's Dots help article, SpaceXSI's Grok Bot docs, and Meta's Muse launch post and plans page, all checked on 27 October 2026.
What each one can do with your ad accounts
This is where it gets interesting for anyone in PPC. Every one of these agents can open an ad platform in its browser and click around (they all have one), but that's the slow, fragile route. A connector hands the agent the platform's API instead: reports come back as data, and a change is a named operation with exact values you can check before it runs.
| Google Ads | LinkedIn Ads | Microsoft Ads | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Duet | A custom connector in Claude, such as AdPlug | A custom connector in Claude, such as AdPlug | A custom connector in Claude, such as AdPlug |
| OpenAI Dots | A custom MCP plugin in ChatGPT, such as AdPlug | LinkedIn's own read-only plugin, or AdPlug | A custom MCP plugin in ChatGPT, such as AdPlug |
| Grok Bot | Cursor's Google Ads app, or AdPlug as a custom MCP server | AdPlug as a custom MCP server | AdPlug as a custom MCP server |
| Meta Muse | No connector named | No connector named | No connector named |
Claude Duet
Anthropic says Duet works with “over 6,000 connectors and plugins”, but none of the big ad platforms has its own connector in Claude's directory: no Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Microsoft Ads or Meta Ads listing from the platforms themselves (TikTok for Business is the one first-party ad connector). The Google connectors are Gmail, Calendar and Drive, and LinkedIn's own listing is for hiring. So ad accounts reach Duet the way they reach Claude: as a custom connector you add on claude.ai. Even Meta's own Meta Ads server goes in that way.
That works because, as Anthropic's help article puts it, Duet runs on your Claude account, so the connectors you've set up in Claude are there from your first message. One thing to know while it's in preview: Every's review found Duet's “scheduled runs can't reach my custom connectors.” That's scheduled runs, not asking in the thread, but it's the morning-brief job a PPC manager would want first, so ask in the thread for now.
OpenAI Dots
A dot uses the plugins on your ChatGPT account, so the Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads or Microsoft Ads connector you add to ChatGPT shows up for your dot too. LinkedIn also publishes its own ChatGPT plugin, read-only, for ad set performance. The limit is the plan: OpenAI says write actions through custom MCP apps are for Business, Enterprise and Edu, so a dot on Pro may only read. Our Google Ads to OpenAI Dots guide walks through it.
Grok Bot
Grok Bot is the most open of the four. Its docs list custom MCP servers as a plugin type, and you add one by asking the Bot in chat. Cursor also added a Google Ads app this month, so it may show up in Connect apps. Routines run in the cloud while your laptop is shut, which is the always-on part working as advertised. The setup is in our Google Ads to Grok Bot guide, and there's one to connect LinkedIn Ads to Grok Bot too. For a team of Bots across your ad platforms, see Grok Bot for PPC.
Meta Muse
Muse is the only one with a native ad connection, and it's Meta's own. Muse for Small Business connects Instagram analytics, Facebook Pages and Meta ad accounts “in a few clicks”, with “draft a campaign for next week” as Meta's sample ask. What Meta doesn't say is whether that access can change budgets, bids or targeting, or only read. Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Microsoft Ads don't feature anywhere, and while Muse can build custom connectors when you ask it to, Meta never mentions MCP.
Where Duet is strong for PPC, and where it isn't
What it does well
- No new setup if you already use Claude. Connectors, memory and skills come with your account, so an ad account you've plugged into Claude is one step from Duet.
- Finished deliverables. It returns docs, sheets and decks, which is most of what a client report is.
- Channels. Separate channels share the same memory, so one per client keeps the threads apart without losing context.
- Spend next to pipeline. HubSpot is one of the apps Anthropic names for Duet, so with your ad accounts connected too, leads and deals can sit next to spend in the same thread.
- Clear approval screens. For anything it sends, it shows the action, the destination and the content, every recipient included.
- The model. Opus 5.5 does the reading, and it decides how much effort a job needs.
The jobs to hand it, by role and with prompts, are in Claude Duet for marketing.
What to watch
- US only, and not on Team or Enterprise. Agencies on a Claude Team plan, and anyone outside the US, wait.
- Scheduled runs. Every's review found they couldn't reach custom connectors, which is how ad platforms connect, so the morning brief may skip your ads for now. Asking in the thread is the way in.
- The approval list doesn't mention ads. More on that below.
- A browser you can't watch. When there's no connector, Duet uses its cloud browser, and you can't see or take over that session.
- Usage. Background checks come out of the same Claude limits as your chats, the five-hour session and weekly ones included.
Approvals: what they cover and what they don't
Anthropic's safety page is thorough on money and messages. Duet waits for you before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything. Some steps can't be pre-approved at all, and some are off-limits even with your OK, like trading securities or moving money between accounts.
Changing a campaign isn't on that list. Pausing an ad group, raising a budget or adding negatives isn't a message, a payment or a signature, and nothing Anthropic has published says how Duet treats it. So the guard has to come from somewhere else: your own rule in the thread, Claude's per-tool settings (set the tools that change campaigns to Needs approval), and the connector itself.
That last one is why I built AdPlug the way I did. Its Google Ads execute tools only apply a change that was previewed first, new Microsoft Ads campaigns start paused, the free plan is read-only, and every report call and executed change lands in an audit log you can check after the agent's been busy overnight (which is the whole point of an always-on agent, and also the bit that should make you nervous).
Never change anything in my ad accounts without showing me AdPlug's preview first and waiting for my OK.
How to connect your ad accounts to Duet
Because Duet borrows your Claude account's connectors, the setup happens in Claude. It takes about two minutes, and you can do all of it before your Duet invite arrives:
- Create an AdPlug account and connect the ad platform with its own sign-in.
- Open Add custom connector in Claude and paste AdPlug's name and address for the platform.
- Approve AdPlug's sign-in, then test it in a normal Claude chat.
- Open Duet and ask it for a performance snapshot of your account.
Each platform has its own step-by-step guide: Google Ads to Claude Duet, LinkedIn Ads to Claude Duet and Microsoft Ads to Claude Duet. Then start with asks you send yourself, rather than the brief:
Use AdPlug - Google Ads to build a client-ready PDF report on last week's results: a short summary, what changed against the week before and why, and what we do next.
Which one should a PPC manager pick?
Honestly, the one you can get, on the plan you already pay for. A rough guide by situation:
- On Claude Pro or Max in the US: join the Duet waitlist and connect your ad accounts in Claude now. Ask in the thread until scheduled runs reach custom connectors.
- You want scheduled ad reports today: Grok Bot supports custom MCP servers in its docs and runs routines in the cloud.
- Your team is on ChatGPT Business: a dot can use custom MCP plugins with write actions, and Business Premium is sold in every region ChatGPT supports.
- All your spend is on Meta: Muse connects Meta ad accounts natively, in the US, Canada and Japan. Check what it can change before you trust it with a budget.
- In the UK or EU: Duet and Pro dots aren't sold to you yet. Grok Bot, Business Premium dots and plain Claude or ChatGPT chats are.
The one I get asked most is Grok Bot vs Claude for Google Ads. Both reach Google Ads the same way, through a connector, so with the same one connected they see the same numbers and make the same changes. The difference is how they work. Claude is a chat (and Duet, once you're in): it's where I'd do the thinking, like an audit or a client report. Grok Bot is built around Bots that keep working on their own, with routines in the cloud, so it's where I'd park the morning pacing check. You don't have to choose: one AdPlug account works in both.
Whichever you pick, the agent is only as good as what it can reach. For Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Microsoft Ads that means a connector, and you'll want one that works in all of them, so switching agents next quarter doesn't mean redoing the plumbing. AdPlug is my product, so weigh that accordingly.