OpenAI dots: An AI assistant with its own computer that works in the background

What's new

On Tuesday, September 29, 2026, OpenAI unveiled dots at its DevDay developer conference in San Francisco. Dots is an AI agent, meaning a program that doesn't just answer questions but gets started on tasks by itself. According to Al Jazeera, it works around the clock and can, for example, book a table at a restaurant or do web design. It runs on OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model.

Each dot gets its own cloud computer, and you use it through ChatGPT on desktop, web and mobile, as well as through Slack and Microsoft Teams. It can be connected to more than 4,000 apps.

What's smart about it

Dots can keep working in the background while you do something else. It learns from your feedback and remembers your goals and preferences. OpenAI says dots delivers work your way, sometimes before you think to ask for it.

You decide which apps dots can touch. For each type of action, you can choose whether it's allowed, requires your approval or is blocked. Sensitive actions such as changing passwords and transferring money always require your explicit approval. There is also a "read-only" mode, which prevents the agent from controlling your browser or computer without permission. By default, background work is not allowed to write anything without your permission.

There are limits, too: A dot is personal and meant for a single user. According to eesel AI, it can't call you, can't create accounts on its own and doesn't let you edit saved memories line by line.

Cheaper or better?

Dots is not included in the Free, Go or Plus plans. The rollout begins for Pro, Business Premium and Enterprise customers in what OpenAI calls eligible markets. Enterprise gets a beta if the company's administrators turn it on.

Pro and Business Premium subscribers get one dot at no extra charge, while pricing for additional dots has not been announced. Conversations with a dot don't count toward the usual ChatGPT limits, but work handed off to Codex or ChatGPT Work counts toward those products' usage. The sources disagree on Pro pricing; eesel AI mentions "$100+ per month."

For Danes, there's a catch. According to eesel AI, Pro users in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK are excluded at launch, while Business Premium is said to be available globally. Only that one source says this, so check with OpenAI before counting on it.

Competitors include Meta's Muse (launched earlier in September) and Google's Gemini Spark (unveiled in May), and eesel AI also mentions Anthropic's Claude Cowork and xAI's Grok Bot. The sources offer no direct benchmarks or price comparisons with them. OpenAI also postponed GPT-6.1 Astra after tests uncovered safety problems.

What it's good for

Dots is for people who want to hand off routine, tedious tasks and have them handled in the background: bookings, small web tasks and work across apps like Slack and Teams. For businesses, it matters that administrators must turn on beta access themselves, and that you can control exactly what the agent is allowed to do on its own.