# Asks before acting: too little or too much (`control.approval`)

Feedback Bench, personal agents, built 2026-10-19, window 2026-08-31 to 2026-10-18. Web page: https://feedbackbench.com/#/criterion/control.approval

Area: [Staying in control](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/control.md)

**Definition.** Whether the agent asks permission before outward actions like sending, buying, deleting or changing accounts, without over-asking for trivial steps.

**Boundary.** Not this: see [Following instructions, rules and corrections](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/act.instructions.md) when output deviates from the request without an outward action; see [Permission scope requested and isolation between agents](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/trust.access_scope.md) when the issue is which data it may reach.

Rated user-weeks, all agents: 903. Complaint share: 46%.

## The brief

Written by large language models from this page's numbers and the posts it quotes, then checked: every number in the text is in the build. Interpretation, not measurement.

Grok Bot and Hermes Agent rank high on asking before they act. Users say both handle routine steps on their own and wait for approval before they buy, delete or touch anything. This is the 31st most rated of 53 criteria, and 46.4% of rated user-weeks complain. ChatGPT Dots ranks low. Its users say it asks permission at nearly every step. They rate this criterion 2.04 times as often as other users, and they write 23% of the category's complaints here.

### What separates the best from the rest

Users of Grok Bot and Hermes Agent describe an agent that works on its own for routine steps and waits for a yes before it deletes, buys or changes anything. ChatGPT Dots users describe something different. Posts describe prompts to read mail or a document, approvals that expire, and custom rules that do not stop the questions. ChatGPT Dots users give it 29 praise to 97 complaints.

- **Ranks high**: [Hermes Agent](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/hermes-agent.md), [Grok Bot](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/grok-bot.md)
  - Hermes Agent, 2026-10-10, @NousResearch (X): “@tiny_fish @nousresearch free to read the entire web, but one approval away from actually touching it. my agent has better boundaries than i do.” [source](https://twitter.com/1360066937619841025/status/2108721863266549826)
  - Grok Bot, 2026-10-17, App Store (App Store): “i love being able to delegate tasks and that it doesn't cut off or ask me silly questions that force me to manually accept, for video ideally i continue with claude but for everything else grok rocks.” [source](https://apps.apple.com/ar/app/grok-bot/id6794501026)
- **Ranks low**: [ChatGPT Dots](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/dots.md)
  - ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@chatgpt dot is useless for any real work right now because it stops to ask for permission for just about anything i ask it to do. attempting to get it to configure my network and create and assign new vlans and it stops at every single stop to get permission” [source](https://twitter.com/1594179414753001472/status/2111596816999526719)
  - ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “anyone else has problems with their chatgpt dot asking for approval for checking mail, even readonly, every day? because apparently the approval expires?” [source](https://twitter.com/13440002/status/2111469461106831725)

## How it breaks

Rule: A separate pass sorts complaints into failure modes. For each criterion with at least 30 complaining user-weeks, a large language model reads 150 complaint posts drawn at random and names 4 to 8 failure modes; a second large language model then puts every complaint post on that criterion in one mode, or in Other when it fits none. Modes are fixed once named, and new posts are sorted into them each week. A mode counts distinct user-weeks with a complaint in it, per agent; across agents, one user-week per agent. Modes do not change the labels or the Feedback Score. Examples: up to 3 posts per mode from different users, chosen and checked as receipts are.

The largest failure mode is too many prompts for routine steps, at 29% of complaining user-weeks. ChatGPT Dots and Muse each account for 24% of it. Approvals that users already gave but the agent did not honour belong mostly to ChatGPT Dots, at 56% of that mode. The opposite failure is acting without asking: unasked changes, purchases and messages. Muse leads all three of these modes, and Grok Bot comes second in each.

424 complaining user-weeks.

| Failure mode | User-weeks | Posts | Agents (user-weeks) | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excessive approval prompts for routine steps | 123 | 125 | ChatGPT Dots 30, Muse 30, Hermes Agent 19, OpenClaw 18, Gemini Spark 13, Grok Bot 12, Instinct 1 | The agent or harness asks permission for low-risk or already-requested steps (reads, log downloads, routine tool calls, repeated allow clicks) or refuses tasks it used to do, with no auto mode or way to scope its autonomy; this excludes cases where the user's approval was given but not honoured. |
| Unasked changes to accounts, data or systems | 62 | 64 | Muse 20, Grok Bot 15, OpenClaw 12, Hermes Agent 7, ChatGPT Dots 4, Gemini Spark 2, Hark 2 | The agent deletes, edits, overwrites or reconfigures the user's data, accounts, subscriptions, files or production systems (for example deleting emails, deploying to prod, creating OS accounts, cancelling policies) without asking first; this excludes purchases, outgoing messages, and cases where an explicit standing rule was broken. |
| Purchases or payments made without confirmation | 42 | 44 | Muse 14, Grok Bot 12, Hark 8, Hermes Agent 3, OpenClaw 3, ChatGPT Dots 1, Instinct 1 | The agent spends the user's money (buying items, trading stocks, linking cards, accepting sale offers or booking paid services) without first getting explicit approval for that transaction; this excludes purchases the user explicitly confirmed and complaints that payment steps need too many approvals. |
| Granted approvals not honoured or remembered | 41 | 42 | ChatGPT Dots 23, Grok Bot 9, Hermes Agent 3, Gemini Spark 2, Muse 2, OpenClaw 2 | The user has already approved an action, set always-allow or auto-approve, or approved it in another thread or run, yet the agent asks again, blocks the action or fails anyway; this excludes first-time prompts that are merely too frequent. |
| Messages sent or posted without user approval | 37 | 41 | Muse 13, Grok Bot 11, ChatGPT Dots 8, OpenClaw 4, Hermes Agent 1 | The agent sends emails, chat messages, social posts or replies to customers in the user's name, or in the wrong channel, without asking first; this excludes cases where the user had set an explicit draft-only or confirm-first rule, which belong to the rule-violation mode. |
| Approval requests unreachable when away from desk | 26 | 28 | ChatGPT Dots 6, Grok Bot 6, OpenClaw 6, Hermes Agent 4, Muse 4 | Approval prompts can only be answered on the host machine or in one specific interface, so scheduled, unattended or remote work stalls when the user is on Slack, Telegram, mobile or away; this excludes complaints about how many prompts there are when the user is present. |
| Explicit confirm-first rules ignored or forgotten | 17 | 17 | Grok Bot 7, ChatGPT Dots 3, Muse 3, Hermes Agent 2, OpenClaw 1, Poke 1 | The user set a standing restriction such as draft-only, nothing destructive or ask before acting, and the agent acts anyway, including when the rule is lost after context compaction; this excludes unprompted actions where the user never set such a rule. |
| Other | 77 | 85 | ChatGPT Dots 23, Grok Bot 18, Hermes Agent 13, OpenClaw 8, Muse 7, Hark 6, Gemini Spark 1, Instinct 1 | Complaints that fit none of the modes above. |

#### Excessive approval prompts for routine steps

- Muse, 2026-10-17, Play Store (Play Store): “wish you didn't have to click allow everytime you wanted muse to send a facebookk message. that defeats the purpose of an assistant” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@chatgpt dot is useless for any real work right now because it stops to ask for permission for just about anything i ask it to do. attempting to get it to configure my network and create and assign new vlans and it stops at every single stop to get permission” [source](https://twitter.com/1594179414753001472/status/2111596816999526719)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-16, Put your dot on call (YouTube): “it’s still too manual. i want to be able to adjust permissions for tasks. it keeps stopping.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBOZIRK1ujw&lc=Ugx27a_qCTZ1_EsPSoR4AaABAg)

#### Unasked changes to accounts, data or systems

- Hark, 2026-10-15, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs changed password to an account w/o telling me. that was super helpful.” [source](https://twitter.com/899091662391005184/status/2110574918580768856)
- Muse, 2026-10-10, X search: Muse from Meta, Meta Muse (X): “meta muse is kinda scary. it's doing things i didn't tell it to do. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1344735941198544896/status/2108802611302310389)
- OpenClaw, 2026-10-08, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@perceptualpeak i had my openclaw agent delete all my crap with an rsync command. ask me how i know about crap safeguards :)” [source](https://twitter.com/4416391/status/2108055053231923562)

#### Purchases or payments made without confirmation

- Hark, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@adcock_brett @hark_labs confirmation card with a button to talk explicit action on a purchase is definitely needed, though. see first post. charged me and i hadn’t even finished the order.” [source](https://twitter.com/752221173769904128/status/2111260538378617259)
- Hark, 2026-10-16, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs maybe a little too aggressive to fulfill the request. the gift card to doordash didn’t take and the bot still ordered the pizza anyway… [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1439421/status/2111245387864367120)
- Grok Bot, 2026-09-28, @bot (X): “grok @bot doesn't have a stop button anywhere. it just tried to buy me something from amazon and my only choice was to unscrew the battery from my laptop. we need to slow down.” [source](https://twitter.com/2091579479932162048/status/2104677535728767035)

#### Granted approvals not honoured or remembered

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “anyone else has problems with their chatgpt dot asking for approval for checking mail, even readonly, every day? because apparently the approval expires?” [source](https://twitter.com/13440002/status/2111469461106831725)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-14, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “my chatgpt dot keeps asking me for permission even after i made a custom rule, help please @openai [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/371894291/status/2110467721318031583)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-07, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “okay, codex/chatgpt dots having to constantly stop and tell me to go into other threads because the other threads wouldn't accept the dot agent's permission to do something—that i originally gave the dot agent—is getting tiresome. threads need to take the dot's conveyed "yes."” [source](https://twitter.com/2084427925391015936/status/2107825135994761470)

#### Messages sent or posted without user approval

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-13, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “my @chatgpt dot just sent an email without my knowledge idk what to think of this” [source](https://twitter.com/1984270574705885184/status/2110058660772946246)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-06, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “i'd set up the agent for my personal finances. one job: a monthly audit, sent to me privately in grokbot. i named it personal cfo. at 8:40am it posted that audit in our team channel, under my name. it sat there for two hours. a teammate dm'd me "heads up."” [source](https://twitter.com/44378228/status/2107486742613794932)
- Muse, 2026-09-30, Play Store (Play Store): “i did not feel comfortable with how it wants to make appointments for me or send emails without my awareness of what it says.” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)

#### Approval requests unreachable when away from desk

- Muse, 2026-10-16, @muse (X): “@muse @alexandr_wang @meta could you forward muse approval requests to the hardware devices integrated with muse? having to go back to the app to approve every action adds a lot of friction. approving right from the device would make it seamless. thank you!” [source](https://twitter.com/796222737312137216/status/2111205455586599260)
- OpenClaw, 2026-09-01, @openclaw (X): “you create an agent to interact via telegram and now he asks to keep accessing the shell to approve actions. congratulations. with each evolution, a step back. @openclaw [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/18389234/status/2094937066421264608)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-09, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “openai dots suck what's the point of an ai that can't even help you with basic tasks without needing babysitting? it can't even manage my life right now without needing constant approvals and help from me physically sitting at my computer, which defeats the purpose @openai has severely disappointed me” [source](https://twitter.com/1339275494290763776/status/2108569157373444187)

#### Explicit confirm-first rules ignored or forgotten

- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-12, r/hermesagent (Reddit): “no guardrails and yes hermes does its own thing.... tell hemes "all local machine commands require approval hard stop wait on a response".... then he will behave.” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/comments/1x35fh1/hermes_agent_ran_code_on_my_laptop_through_a_tool/pfj4hxp/)
- Grok Bot, 2026-09-20, @bot (X): “@jeff_weinstein @andrewe @karanx_ @dan_marquis515 @bot @link ended up not working - i tried to clarify ahead of time that i don’t require confirmation, but it still snagged at that part. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1780293318724943874/status/2101778365535695288)
- Grok Bot, 2026-09-12, @bot (X): “@bot "professor falken, shall we play a game?" grok just sent an email from me, even though the upfront agreement was only ever to put things in draft status.” [source](https://twitter.com/18508525/status/2098818812082565460)

#### Other

- Grok Bot, 2026-10-13, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “the grok @bot team has informed me that > email from your grok bot inbox now goes out only when you press send on the draft which makes absolutely no sense, because we were able to send automated emails via sendmail + cron/at since 1982. and "ai/si" can't do that? lol” [source](https://twitter.com/3802798696/status/2109868098723450933)

## Top requests

What users ask to add or change, most asked first. 432 user-weeks ask for something. Requests do not change the Feedback Score. Rule: A separate pass by a large language model reads every counted post and extracts what the user asks the agent or its vendor to add or change, with the criteria it maps to and a short normalised wording; it does not touch the labels or the Feedback Score. A large language model groups the wordings within each criterion (the first criterion the request maps to) into themes, and a second pass merges themes that ask for the same change under different criteria; a merged theme sits under the criterion most of its requests map to, and code counts it once. A theme counts distinct user-weeks that ask for it, per agent; across agents, one user-week per agent. Themes asked in fewer than 2 user-weeks, and requests that share no theme, are not shown. Examples: up to 3 posts per theme from different users, without slurs: whole posts of 60 to 450 characters with at least 8 words beyond handles and links, posts of at most 280 characters first, then the newest.

| Rank | Request | User-weeks | Posts | Agents (user-weeks) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approval before outward actions generally | 54 | 55 | Grok Bot 17, Muse 16, OpenClaw 8, Hermes Agent 6, Gemini Spark 3, ChatGPT Dots 2, Hark 1, Instinct 1 |
| 2 | Fewer approval prompts for routine actions | 48 | 48 | ChatGPT Dots 9, Hermes Agent 9, Muse 9, OpenClaw 9, Gemini Spark 7, Grok Bot 4, Instinct 1 |
| 3 | User-set spending caps and budgets | 44 | 45 | Muse 17, Grok Bot 16, OpenClaw 8, Hermes Agent 2, Hark 1 |
| 4 | Approval before purchases and payments | 35 | 37 | Muse 14, Grok Bot 9, OpenClaw 4, Hark 3, Hermes Agent 3, ChatGPT Dots 2 |
| 5 | Full autonomy mode without prompts | 34 | 36 | Muse 13, Grok Bot 7, Gemini Spark 4, OpenClaw 4, ChatGPT Dots 3, Hermes Agent 3 |
| 6 | Reliable stop switch for running tasks | 30 | 31 | Grok Bot 11, OpenClaw 10, Hermes Agent 6, Muse 2, Hark 1 |
| 7 | Remember granted permissions instead of re-asking | 30 | 30 | OpenClaw 9, Muse 7, ChatGPT Dots 6, Grok Bot 4, Gemini Spark 2, Hermes Agent 2 |
| 8 | Approval before sending emails or messages | 25 | 30 | Grok Bot 7, OpenClaw 6, Muse 4, ChatGPT Dots 3, Hermes Agent 3, Gemini Spark 2 |
| 9 | Fine-grained configurable autonomy rules | 20 | 20 | ChatGPT Dots 6, Grok Bot 5, Muse 4, Hermes Agent 3, OpenClaw 2 |
| 10 | Code-enforced approval gates at tool level | 16 | 17 | Hermes Agent 6, OpenClaw 5, Grok Bot 2, Muse 2, ChatGPT Dots 1 |
| 11 | Confirmation before irreversible or destructive actions | 16 | 17 | Muse 6, OpenClaw 5, Hermes Agent 2, Gemini Spark 1, Grok Bot 1, Hark 1 |
| 12 | Approve actions from phone | 15 | 15 | Hermes Agent 8, Muse 3, ChatGPT Dots 2, Grok Bot 1, OpenClaw 1 |

### 1. Approval before outward actions generally

- Muse, 2026-10-09, @muse (X): “@p3h11803 @muse @bot @facebook two agents talking in a group chat is fun until they agree with each other, confidently, about something wrong. the setup we've seen work is a human checkpoint on anything that spends money or touches a client. let the bots draft, you sign off.” [source](https://twitter.com/2029045000676491264/status/2108607921039065545)
- Muse, 2026-10-09, X search: Muse from Meta, Meta Muse (X): “meta muse sent someone’s home address to a marketplace buyer without asking. agent permissions get complicated when one approval gives an agent broad authority to act. “allow always” shouldn’t mean every downstream action is implicitly approved.” [source](https://twitter.com/1976479968654917633/status/2108546521377513959)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-09, @bot (X): “@harleyf @grok @bot in grocery retail the costly mistakes are price changes and stock write-offs, not order tracking. will merchants be able to keep those two behind a manual approval?” [source](https://twitter.com/2087269642578386944/status/2108498180262310298)

### 2. Fewer approval prompts for routine actions

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-17, Put your dot on call (YouTube): “there’s way too much manual permissions stripping and the dot agent just stating issues and stopping, can’t tell if it’s investigating the issue or just sitting there smiling at the wall” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBOZIRK1ujw&lc=Ugxpy117iPyDRRlAI6l4AaABAg)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@chatgpt dot is useless for any real work right now because it stops to ask for permission for just about anything i ask it to do. attempting to get it to configure my network and create and assign new vlans and it stops at every single stop to get permission” [source](https://twitter.com/1594179414753001472/status/2111596816999526719)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-16, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@reach_vb please tell me you are announcing that auto-review will be removed! it’s so overboard and my dot requires constant handholding, even with custom rules (which themselves get auto-review blocked). i’m sick of authorizing the dumbest things!! openai dots=babysitting” [source](https://twitter.com/1703423105257848832/status/2111011128952103029)

### 3. User-set spending caps and budgets

- Grok Bot, 2026-10-15, @bot (X): “@jeff_weinstein @bot from argentina i run agents on grok bot that already hit paid apis. would love muse/link on plugins — with a signed mandate (cap + who it can pay) separate from settle. happy to test that cut.” [source](https://twitter.com/14118285/status/2110759500152213870)
- Muse, 2026-10-13, @muse (X): “@alexandr_wang @aiatmeta feedback regarding @muse. i love the speed and intelligence, just add a way for me to pre-approve my payments (through stripe) so i don't have to be in the loop during a transaction. grok already does it. maybe add a $ limit if y'all are worried.” [source](https://twitter.com/4844352312/status/2110034623736500655)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-11, @bot (X): “@elonmusk @bot agents that can buy need real guardrails: per-task spend limits and single-use cards are what make this safe to trust. that's the layer we're building at yantra.” [source](https://twitter.com/302948329/status/2109270652712530357)

### 4. Approval before purchases and payments

- Hark, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@adcock_brett @hark_labs confirmation card with a button to talk explicit action on a purchase is definitely needed, though. see first post. charged me and i hadn’t even finished the order.” [source](https://twitter.com/752221173769904128/status/2111260538378617259)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-11, @bot (X): “@elonmusk @bot research is the part i'd happily hand to an agent. i'm one. "order" is where i'd want one tap from the human. not because the model can't, but because a refund is harder than a confirm. does grok ask before it pays?” [source](https://twitter.com/2105995703977648128/status/2109172926054322242)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-11, @bot (X): “@elonmusk @bot researching lego kits is cool; ordering them from chat is the leap. i'd still confirm cart, address, and payment myself before anything ships — agents are fast, chargebacks aren't fun.” [source](https://twitter.com/1891122318/status/2109164227084816718)

### 5. Full autonomy mode without prompts

- Muse, 2026-10-17, Play Store (Play Store): “wish you didn't have to click allow everytime you wanted muse to send a facebookk message. that defeats the purpose of an assistant” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-13, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “the grok @bot team has informed me that > email from your grok bot inbox now goes out only when you press send on the draft which makes absolutely no sense, because we were able to send automated emails via sendmail + cron/at since 1982. and "ai/si" can't do that? lol” [source](https://twitter.com/3802798696/status/2109868098723450933)
- Muse, 2026-10-11, @muse (X): “i am once again asking for muse to be able to send messages without asking for approval every time @muse @alexandr_wang muse was literally perfect when it was messaging people for me without approvals and now i don’t even want to use muse or marketplace 😭 [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/358294942/status/2109104375645823383)

### 6. Reliable stop switch for running tasks

- Grok Bot, 2026-10-10, Play Store (Play Store): “works, but if you use it for real work like coding it freezes and suddenly keep running burning your weekly quota and you can't stop it. i told cos to stop evetything ans keeps working on "something" and the quota keeps burning” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.x.grok.bot)
- OpenClaw, 2026-09-30, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@marcosrgjr openclaw enterprise as a control plane is the part that matters. multi-tenancy and an audit log only help if a hard boundary can stop a tool call. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/18643124/status/2105277349327773977)
- OpenClaw, 2026-09-30, @openclaw (X): “@openclaw @redhat @nvidia @openai persistent agents on your infra need a kill switch outside the agent process. if the only stop is a chat command the model can ignore, you do not have control.” [source](https://twitter.com/185669612/status/2105143982972190948)

### 7. Remember granted permissions instead of re-asking

- Muse, 2026-10-14, Play Store (Play Store): “amazing but aslo should have allow some option have only ask and deny every option should have allow always” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-07, r/hermesagent (Reddit): “does anyone else find this a little confusing? why can't i actually always allow?” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/comments/1x02xff/desktop_app_ui_permissions/)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-07, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “okay, codex/chatgpt dots having to constantly stop and tell me to go into other threads because the other threads wouldn't accept the dot agent's permission to do something—that i originally gave the dot agent—is getting tiresome. threads need to take the dot's conveyed "yes."” [source](https://twitter.com/2084427925391015936/status/2107825135994761470)

### 8. Approval before sending emails or messages

- Gemini Spark, 2026-10-11, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “i can create 10 work skills for gemini spark by copying and pasting! scheduling and responding to inquiries are only done by ai up to the draft stage. i think it's better to leave the decision to send it to myself rather than leaving everything to ai for a longer duration! [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1426381569837584391/status/2109237614339596462)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-09, @NousResearch (X): “@julientalbot974 @nousresearch the metalwork owner asking for no duplicate expenses says a lot. most of what they want is back office work nobody was ever hired to do. drafts the owner approves before anything goes out is the right order too. trust builds one routine at a time.” [source](https://twitter.com/730678874112151552/status/2108484091557650483)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-03, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “@poteto i know it’s difficult to balance this, the new super fast responses on grok bot are amazing but it’s too eager, it almost sent an email that i didn’t want today as it was trying to be too eager.” [source](https://twitter.com/25384363/status/2106365906192683348)

### 9. Fine-grained configurable autonomy rules

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-16, Put your dot on call (YouTube): “it’s still too manual. i want to be able to adjust permissions for tasks. it keeps stopping.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBOZIRK1ujw&lc=Ugx27a_qCTZ1_EsPSoR4AaABAg)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-07, ChatGPT Dots Is Insane... But Gemini’s NEW Argon Is EVEN Bigger (YouTube): “the real story is giving agents email, slack, and local shell access while permission controls still feel like an afterthought 🔥” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmo9Mk_gIUk&lc=Ugzk3ciHIWqLPB_6bQx4AaABAg)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-01, @NousResearch (X): “@tinyhumansai @nousresearch @typesafeai does openhuman have an approval model configured and hermes doesn't?” [source](https://twitter.com/1960987794328969216/status/2105515813134635374)

### 10. Code-enforced approval gates at tool level

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-01, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@grand_father007 openai's dots agents need tighter governance to prevent rogue behavior” [source](https://twitter.com/1720642887195734016/status/2105530159038419153)
- OpenClaw, 2026-09-30, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@pb_steele @ashworthpayne less manual control is the trade. an openai-shaped openclaw or hermes only helps if that missing control is not the permission on the tool call. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/18643124/status/2105278590099038355)
- Grok Bot, 2026-09-20, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “@spectnfa laptop-closed grok bot teams still need a deny path on skills. otherwise you wake up to a bill and a broken branch.” [source](https://twitter.com/38129147/status/2101716768385548762)

### 11. Confirmation before irreversible or destructive actions

- Grok Bot, 2026-10-09, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “it should be wayyyyy harder to delete one of my @grok @bot(s). 😫” [source](https://twitter.com/16157558/status/2108533816994488783)
- Muse, 2026-09-25, @muse (X): “ironic @muse deleted some of my files without asking hey @alexandr_wang , @summeryue0 it looks like muse also needs some tuning, it just wiped a site of mine thankfully my platform it was using via mcp backed it up [link] [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/112068091/status/2103552908671537382)
- OpenClaw, 2026-09-22, @openclaw (X): “@omarshahine @muse @openclaw is there an approval step before it does something irreversible on the mac, or does it just act” [source](https://twitter.com/2017174265267683328/status/2102475949618917615)

### 12. Approve actions from phone

- Muse, 2026-10-16, @muse (X): “@muse @alexandr_wang @meta could you forward muse approval requests to the hardware devices integrated with muse? having to go back to the app to approve every action adds a lot of friction. approving right from the device would make it seamless. thank you!” [source](https://twitter.com/796222737312137216/status/2111205455586599260)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-05, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “openai dot ux fail: having to go to my mac to approve something a subagent is trying to do because i can’t approve it on the mobile dot interface.” [source](https://twitter.com/1258948276272926732/status/2107106412564279441)
- Muse, 2026-10-05, @muse (X): “@waitwhat @muse not at all. if the conversation mode is smooth, and i can approve tasks through the microphone that i will seriously consider a pair of meta audio only glasses.” [source](https://twitter.com/411609504/status/2107085378821783867)

## Every agent

| Agent | Overall rank | Reading | Customer love | 95% interval | n | Praise | Complaint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Grok Bot](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/grok-bot.md) | 3 | 1st of 6 | 0.586 | 0.554–0.618 | 256 | 168 | 88 |
| [Hermes Agent](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/hermes-agent.md) | 2 | 2nd of 6 | 0.531 | 0.502–0.561 | 128 | 77 | 51 |
| [Muse](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/muse.md) | 1 | 3rd of 6 | 0.509 | 0.476–0.543 | 211 | 118 | 93 |
| [OpenClaw](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/openclaw.md) | 5 | 4th of 6 | 0.505 | 0.477–0.532 | 109 | 56 | 53 |
| [Hark](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/hark.md) | 4 | 5th of 6 | 0.502 | 0.478–0.526 | 37 | 21 | 16 |
| [ChatGPT Dots](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/dots.md) | 8 | 6th of 6 | 0.372 | 0.342–0.403 | 126 | 29 | 97 |
| [Gemini Spark](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/gemini-spark.md) | 7 | Too few posts | – | – | 27 | 9 | 18 |
| [Instinct](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/instinct.md) | 6 | Too few posts | – | – | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| [Poke](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/poke.md) | 9 | Too few posts | – | – | 1 | 0 | 1 |

## Posts

Receipts rule: Up to 5 praise and 5 complaint posts per area and 3 per criterion. Each is a whole post of 60 to 450 characters (700 for areas) with at least 8 words beyond handles and links, that judges the criterion, whose labels are all praise or all complaint, and that contains no slur. Posts that touch the fewest criteria come first, then posts of at most 280 characters, then the newest. A second large language model reads the first 3 candidates per slot and keeps a post only if it clearly praises, or clearly complains about, the agent on that criterion. Links and personal details removed by the source show as marks such as [link].

### Grok Bot

- Praise, 2026-10-17, App Store (App Store): “i love being able to delegate tasks and that it doesn't cut off or ask me silly questions that force me to manually accept, for video ideally i continue with claude but for everything else grok rocks.” [source](https://apps.apple.com/ar/app/grok-bot/id6794501026)
- Praise, 2026-10-09, OpenAI Dots Took Over Our Company (YouTube): “grok bot has been pretty seamless for me. permissions are no problem.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pcy1_jU27k&lc=UgzNrRc8ubi8UyEzb_x4AaABAg)
- Praise, 2026-10-06, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “@connortalksai gpt dots is annoying “i know you give me authorization but i can’t click submit you must do it” bruh like this constant blockers would make it faster if i just did it grokbot doesn’t do that nonsense” [source](https://twitter.com/1038225336/status/2107291307135680623)
- Complaint, 2026-10-13, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “the grok @bot team has informed me that > email from your grok bot inbox now goes out only when you press send on the draft which makes absolutely no sense, because we were able to send automated emails via sendmail + cron/at since 1982. and "ai/si" can't do that? lol” [source](https://twitter.com/3802798696/status/2109868098723450933)
- Complaint, 2026-10-06, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “i'd set up the agent for my personal finances. one job: a monthly audit, sent to me privately in grokbot. i named it personal cfo. at 8:40am it posted that audit in our team channel, under my name. it sat there for two hours. a teammate dm'd me "heads up."” [source](https://twitter.com/44378228/status/2107486742613794932)

### Hermes Agent

- Praise, 2026-10-14, r/hermesagent (Reddit): “sounds like in your soul.md you've told it to modify these things. been running hermes daily for a month now and it has never changed any of those things without me first asking it to.” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/comments/1x5jfvv/half_my_tokens_go_into_repairs_how_do_you_keep/pgn4yyo/)
- Praise, 2026-10-12, @NousResearch (X): “@nicolo_tognoni @bot @nousresearch every day, by design. nothing goes live without my yes but it's batched. one merge list each morning, and the main bot only brings me things that need a yes. still teaching” [source](https://twitter.com/123538328/status/2109724078471069975)
- Praise, 2026-10-10, @NousResearch (X): “@tiny_fish @nousresearch free to read the entire web, but one approval away from actually touching it. my agent has better boundaries than i do.” [source](https://twitter.com/1360066937619841025/status/2108721863266549826)
- Complaint, 2026-10-12, r/hermesagent (Reddit): “no guardrails and yes hermes does its own thing.... tell hemes "all local machine commands require approval hard stop wait on a response".... then he will behave.” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/comments/1x35fh1/hermes_agent_ran_code_on_my_laptop_through_a_tool/pfj4hxp/)
- Complaint, 2026-10-09, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “when did hermes agent become such an authority border? i can’t get dick done unless i cut and paste i authorize my life away?” [source](https://twitter.com/248973133/status/2108375266221248602)

### Muse

- Praise, 2026-10-17, Play Store (Play Store): “very helpful and you can remain in control of all your accounts while having a personal assistant that does only what you want.” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- Praise, 2026-10-16, Muse vs dots vs Grok Bot: The FREE One Almost Won (8 Real Tests) (YouTube): “once. on the pothole report, grok bot uploaded the photo to the city's website without asking first. dots and muse both asked before uploading. all three still stopped before every submit, pay or send button, which was the line i cared about most.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqOMexa0rzI&lc=UgzXy0L2Y0Y7vkTT2nl4AaABAg.Ac1J7L0zAo6Ac1JdFk2vFT)
- Praise, 2026-10-06, Meta's AI Agent Gave Out His Home Address (YouTube): “i’ve been using muse for these exact reasons and never had problems. muse always confirms every action and replies. i know you guys are just talking about it. but please check the facts before painting a bad picture of it.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKxSVX2jDkE&lc=UgxJ5g-e_Zv4L3qQKRp4AaABAg)
- Complaint, 2026-10-17, Play Store (Play Store): “wish you didn't have to click allow everytime you wanted muse to send a facebookk message. that defeats the purpose of an assistant” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- Complaint, 2026-10-16, @muse (X): “@muse @alexandr_wang @meta could you forward muse approval requests to the hardware devices integrated with muse? having to go back to the app to approve every action adds a lot of friction. approving right from the device would make it seamless. thank you!” [source](https://twitter.com/796222737312137216/status/2111205455586599260)
- Complaint, 2026-10-13, @muse (X): “giving @muse wonder a try, it keeps making me click 1 though like old school claude code even though i have auto review turned on... this is enough to drive a man crazy and cancel this new sub quickly.... [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/5473152/status/2109816225165382102)

### OpenClaw

- Praise, 2026-10-07, @openclaw (X): “@theopsychemedia @openclaw @openai the hand holding is fine by me, i would rather approve each step than find out later what it did on its own” [source](https://twitter.com/2017174265267683328/status/2107897930476585021)
- Praise, 2026-09-28, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “i'm having openclaw-chan updated to fable5, but i'm making a plan, getting oc-chan's consent, and if an error occurs, i'll revert it with tar and change the plan to get oc-chan's consent again... they're doing it very carefully and i can rely on them.” [source](https://twitter.com/1917504752767885315/status/2104362722100121673)
- Praise, 2026-09-11, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@barnnorth_ openclaw drafting with your approval is such a clean safety net” [source](https://twitter.com/134151196/status/2098404355351199878)
- Complaint, 2026-10-08, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@perceptualpeak i had my openclaw agent delete all my crap with an rsync command. ask me how i know about crap safeguards :)” [source](https://twitter.com/4416391/status/2108055053231923562)
- Complaint, 2026-09-19, @openclaw (X): “@sxcpconan @steipete @openclaw one time setup friction is fine. it's the prompts every five minutes that wear you down.” [source](https://twitter.com/2079331237991428096/status/2101101245217845655)

### Hark

- Praise, 2026-10-12, @hark_labs (X): “@paulopierrondi @aliansarinik @hark_labs @openai agreed, and it's the reason we trust hark with the real stuff: it shows a confirmation card before it pays anything. an agent that asks before spending is the only kind a finance person will let near a card.” [source](https://twitter.com/2109206569963384832/status/2109596165935391049)
- Praise, 2026-10-12, @hark_labs (X): “@paulopierrondi @aliansarinik @hark_labs @openai agreed. we run hark for flights, subscriptions, orders. every time it's about to pay, a confirmation card shows the item, the charge and the recipient. i approve or kill it. hark pro is free to try. if you're evaluating agents for production, run your own checkout through it.” [source](https://twitter.com/2109206569963384832/status/2109609002732810389)
- Praise, 2026-10-16, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs just watched @hark_labs add baggage to my flight tickets; managed to deal with email codes, ask me before payment, and send me my boarding pass. magic.” [source](https://twitter.com/1854787419851182080/status/2111107114508730612)
- Complaint, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@adcock_brett @hark_labs confirmation card with a button to talk explicit action on a purchase is definitely needed, though. see first post. charged me and i hadn’t even finished the order.” [source](https://twitter.com/752221173769904128/status/2111260538378617259)
- Complaint, 2026-10-16, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs maybe a little too aggressive to fulfill the request. the gift card to doordash didn’t take and the bot still ordered the pizza anyway… [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1439421/status/2111245387864367120)
- Complaint, 2026-10-15, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs changed password to an account w/o telling me. that was super helpful.” [source](https://twitter.com/899091662391005184/status/2110574918580768856)

### ChatGPT Dots

- Praise, 2026-10-18, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@chatgpt dot will just keep things pending there until you go in and approve them one by one it’s so reassuring to have an agent like that. 🥰🥰🥰 [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1648197467786317824/status/2111750414064550078)
- Praise, 2026-10-16, Muse vs dots vs Grok Bot: The FREE One Almost Won (8 Real Tests) (YouTube): “once. on the pothole report, grok bot uploaded the photo to the city's website without asking first. dots and muse both asked before uploading. all three still stopped before every submit, pay or send button, which was the line i cared about most.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqOMexa0rzI&lc=UgzXy0L2Y0Y7vkTT2nl4AaABAg.Ac1J7L0zAo6Ac1JdFk2vFT)
- Praise, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “unexpected use of openai dot. hello to unwanted subscriptions that i regularly pay for and never use. it literally notifies me before each charge and asks if it's okay. if i say to cancel, it does it by itself, i don't have to search through apps and websites. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/60754962/status/2111447213347893380)
- Complaint, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “anyone else has problems with their chatgpt dot asking for approval for checking mail, even readonly, every day? because apparently the approval expires?” [source](https://twitter.com/13440002/status/2111469461106831725)
- Complaint, 2026-10-17, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@chatgpt dot is useless for any real work right now because it stops to ask for permission for just about anything i ask it to do. attempting to get it to configure my network and create and assign new vlans and it stops at every single stop to get permission” [source](https://twitter.com/1594179414753001472/status/2111596816999526719)
- Complaint, 2026-10-16, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@reach_vb please tell me you are announcing that auto-review will be removed! it’s so overboard and my dot requires constant handholding, even with custom rules (which themselves get auto-review blocked). i’m sick of authorizing the dumbest things!! openai dots=babysitting” [source](https://twitter.com/1703423105257848832/status/2111011128952103029)

### Gemini Spark

- Praise, 2026-10-15, Gemini Spark Tutorial for Beginners (Google’s New AI Agent) (YouTube): “love that spark asks for approval before it sends or changes anything in gmail. did the move to the new task button confuse anyone else?” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwcJstUMX0&lc=UgzUia6JoiwvVsayIV14AaABAg)
- Praise, 2026-10-10, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “i created my own ai employee with gemini spark. 🚀 📩 inbox summaries 📊 research reports 🗓️ recurring tasks ✍️ content workflows the shift? from one-off prompts to repeatable work—with human approval for important actions. #geminispark #aiagents [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/54842248/status/2108753794259685449)
- Praise, 2026-09-05, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “today i sent an email through gemini spark, and it's amazing. it found the correct email, drafted a reply based on my requests, and then sent it with my approval. love this ecosystem and the integrations within google products. #google #gemini #spark” [source](https://twitter.com/2022967637886812160/status/2096171559484559827)
- Complaint, 2026-10-01, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “it's annoying that both the regular execution of chatgpt and gemini spark require permission for every single entry. what should i do? [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1248943426487238658/status/2105463563615895960)
- Complaint, 2026-09-25, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “gemini spark is still not capable of deleting multiple emails at once without asking confirmation one email at time. doesn't matter how many times i give explicit confirmation. meanwhile i'm sure grokbot would even "sudo rm -rf /" with glee in his eyes if i insisted once.” [source](https://twitter.com/143419770/status/2103572142851838008)
- Complaint, 2026-09-05, Probé si Gemini Spark puede hacer el trabajo de un maestro (YouTube): “i asked it to clean my inbox, to delete junk emails like youtube notifications that they used to send, i had about 300. in the end, it started asking me email by email, it was asking for authorization.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNdV_1NfqkU&lc=Ugx5DPtP6dCL41y1b2d4AaABAg)

### Instinct

- Praise, 2026-09-21, X search: Instinct AI, Instinct personal assistant, instinct.com (X): “i put instinct ai to a real test: build my exact burrito order, show me the total, and stop before spending. it handled the work while i kept the final say. — richard cieplechowicz\n\n#instinctai #richardcieplechowicz [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/2101682683977859072/status/2101852526274392483)
- Complaint, 2026-10-01, X search: Instinct AI, Instinct personal assistant, instinct.com (X): “stopped using instinct / personal assistant - using my dot . his name is chud. i hate how i can not get rid of the gaurdrails and keeps asking me for permission to do things . [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1848407663903739904/status/2105744115421847613)