What changed
AI assistants you can text launched throughout 2026. Caddy entered public beta in April. Fambot launched in September and raised $3.5 million. Instinct raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation in September. Martin, Folk, Iris, Miso, and Ohai all work the same way: you text them like a person, and they do things for you.
They connect to your calendar, email, and other tools you already use. You do not download an app. You do not open a new interface. You send a text message to a number, and the assistant replies. Some cost $8 to $21 per month. Others are free during beta. Most let you try them with a single message.
What you can do with it
If you run a small business, you can hand these agents the tasks that do not need your judgment but eat your time. Tell Martin to reschedule a meeting and follow up with three people. Tell Fambot to pull the next week of school pickups and soccer practices into one list. Tell Instinct to cancel a subscription or compare flight prices.
For customer service, an AI assistant in SMS means a customer can text your business number at midnight and get an answer. You set the rules for what the assistant can say and when it hands off to a person. The customer does not download anything. They text you. The assistant texts back.
If your team shares one business phone number, an AI agent can triage incoming texts, answer the simple questions, and route the rest to the right person with context already attached.
What to keep in your own hands
Do not connect an assistant to a tool until you know what it can do there. If you link your email, can it send messages as you? Can it delete them? Can it see everything in your inbox? Most assistants let you approve actions before they go out. Turn that on.
Do not paste sensitive information into a text message to an assistant unless you know where that message is stored and who can see it. Some assistants say they do not train models on your data. Some do not say. Ask before you share a customer list, a contract, or financials.
For customer-facing use, set a spending cap if the assistant calls a paid API for every reply. Test it with a small group first. Make sure a person sees a sample of conversations every week so you know what the assistant is actually saying.