OpenAI is rolling out Dots, persistent agents that can work on a cloud computer and use connected apps. Eligible users get one primary Dot at launch, not a team of agents that can freely act across every connected service.
Dots moves ChatGPT toward work that continues beyond a single conversation. OpenAI says a Dot can pursue a task over time and research information in connected apps. It also describes rules for actions that affect accounts. Texting, multiple Dots and broader specialist deployments remain future plans or limited previews.
The question at launch is what a Dot can do while its owner is away.
A Dot Gets a Cloud Computer and Connected Apps
According to OpenAI’s Dots announcement, Dots run on GPT-6 Astra, have their own cloud computer and can access apps a user connects. The cloud computer gives an agent a place to work without requiring the user to keep a laptop open. Connected apps provide context and tools outside a ChatGPT conversation.
OpenAI describes a Dot as a persistent assistant that can keep pursuing a user-defined goal. Users start with a primary Dot they can name and personalize. Instead of starting each request from a blank prompt, they can assign ongoing work to an agent intended to remain available for it.
Persistence does not establish reliability on long-running tasks. TechCrunch’s account of the launch describes OpenAI’s examples of a developer monitoring customer feedback and a scientist investigating new experimental results. Those are proposed workflows, not independent tests showing that a Dot can safely ship a code change or reach a sound scientific conclusion on its own.
The examples also involve different levels of authority. Reading feedback or examining new data is one thing; editing a repository or changing a shared analysis is another. What an agent can do depends on the connected app, the permissions granted and OpenAI’s action rules as well as the model behind it. A cloud computer makes sustained work possible, but it does not grant unrestricted authority.
The First Dot Is Included, but Eligibility Is Limited
OpenAI says the first Dot is included for users on eligible ChatGPT Pro and Business Premium plans. Rollout is by market, so the feature may not have appeared in every eligible account. The announcement does not establish a separate price for that first included Dot. “Included” also does not mean unlimited use or free additional agents.
