Conversations I’m having with AI experts seem to be pointing in the same direction. Chatbots were a great introduction to what AI is and how it can help us in our daily lives. But they rely on back-and-forth conversations. Tech companies now have their eyes on the next frontier: AI agents. By AI agent I’m referring to a tool that performs a set of tasks autonomously on your behalf. They do require an initial set-up, but once you see that they’ve grasped their instructions, you can leave AI agents to their own devices while you sit back and watch the results trickle in. OpenClaw went viral earlier this year with its promise of acting as a helpful AI agent that lives on your device. But the last part of that sentence is what had some users concerned. Not everyone is comfortable giving an AI assistant full access to their files. Luckily there are other options that can deliver a similar level of assistance that don’t require you to download or install any software.…