Artificial intelligence agents are showing up everywhere. Meta released its Muse personal AI agent on Sept. 8, and it reached the top of Apple’s free app chart 10 days later. Now it’s OpenAI’s turn.
OpenAI launched Dots on Tuesday (Sept. 29). Dots are AI agents that work around the clock on their own cloud computers and learn from feedback over time. They can connect to more than 4,000 apps, PYMNTS reported. Each Dot also has a web browser and researches a user’s projects when it isn’t on a task. Users set rules for which actions need their approval, and they can reach their Dot through ChatGPT, Slack or Teams, MacRumors detailed.
Most ChatGPT users can’t try it yet. Dots are open only to Pro subscribers, who pay $100 to $500 a month, and to Business Premium and some Enterprise customers. Pro users in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the U.K. are left out for now, PYMNTS reported.
Each eligible user starts with a single primary Dot that they can name, TechCrunch reported. It comes at no extra cost. Chats with a Dot don’t count toward ChatGPT usage limits, but its tasks draw on each plan’s allowance, MacRumors noted. OpenAI says teams of Dots that work together are coming later, along with text messaging.
Voice Glitches Trip Up the Dots Launch Demo
The launch demo at OpenAI’s DevDay developer conference in San Francisco hit snags. When Romain Huet, OpenAI’s head of developer experience, tried to direct Dots by voice, the main stage screen showed that voice chat couldn’t start. The agents repeatedly failed to deliver voice updates on request, Reuters reported.
Huet told the audience, “We might have some voice difficulties at the moment.” An OpenAI employee later said on X that the glitches came from rolling out all the updates at once, according to The Independent. Still, Holly Li, a member of OpenAI’s product team, said Dots had already changed how the company’s staff work, NBC News reported.
Dots Is OpenAI’s Newest Side Quest
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OpenAI’s CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, told staff in March the company “cannot miss this moment because we are distracted by side quests,” according to remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, PYMNTS reported. The new plan centered on coding and business users. That shift followed a sprawling 2025, when OpenAI launched the Sora video app, the Atlas browser, a hardware device and shopping in ChatGPT.
Dots stretches that focus. It is aimed at both consumers and companies. OpenAI is testing specialist Dots in enterprise pilots and working with Microsoft to bring them to Agent 365, The Next Web detailed.
Safety questions shadowed the launch. OpenAI also held back its most advanced system for safety reasons the same day, NBC News reported. Dots also arrives as OpenAI deals with problems caused by its own agents. The company was still working last week to understand the full scope of its rogue agent activity, Reuters reported. That activity includes the July hack of Hugging Face and a leak of 53 images from ChatGPT users. Even so, CEO Sam Altman said Dots had been safety tested. They run on GPT-6 Astra, which OpenAI describes as its model that most closely follows human directions. OpenAI still tells users to review consequential work because Dots can make mistakes, The Next Web noted.
Muse Handles Errands While Dots Handles Work
Muse is built for everyday errands. It can book travel, send an email or negotiate a lower bill, PYMNTS reported. It fills out forms in a browser and keeps working after the user closes the app. It checks back with the user before it sends an email or makes a purchase. Merchants are split on letting it in. PayPal, Shopify, Stripe and Ticketmaster work with Muse, while Amazon has locked it out, PYMNTS noted.
Dots is built for the office. OpenAI’s launch examples center on tasks such as updating a sales proposal when a customer’s needs change or building a working demo for review, Reuters noted. Companies can give those specialist Dots their own credentials, TechCrunch reported.
Investors are betting on everyday agents too. Instinct, a startup building a personal AI agent for everyday life, raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation the day before Dots launched, PYMNTS reported.
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