Long live AI for normies

By Peter Springett · 30 September 2026

The consumerisation of AI just gets faster and faster.

Just yesterday I wrote: “There’s little or nothing for the AI-normies…That’s why I think Meta is on to something with Muse, its new AI assistant. Rebranding AI at home by making it fun as well as useful is a smart move. It’s the start of a process where we might even stop saying AI and call it Muse or Siri instead.”

Overnight comes the news that OpenAI has launched Dots, a voice controlled agent for the workplace. Same cuddly avatars, just like Muse. Same voice interaction, just like Muse. Same domestic setting…You get the picture.

So, the universal workplace agent isn’t here quite yet. But the direction of travel is clear. We are moving rapidly towards an agentic environment that has mass employee and consumer appeal.

This matters. Technology evolves smoothly, sometimes in leaps and bounds. Examples of the latter include the iPhone or even a Macintosh with its point-and-click interface. Both were people-friendly devices which became the template for smartphones and work PCs.

Muse and Dots are doing the same for AI. In just nine months we’ve gone from OpenClaw, via Claude and ChatGPT Work, to a world where agents are cuddly, familiar and safe. Long live AI for normies.