What shipped
On 29 September 2026, at DevDay, OpenAI introduced Dots: always-on agents running on GPT-6 Astra. Each one has its own cloud computer and browser, connects to 4,000+ apps through plugins, and talks to you in ChatGPT, by voice, in Slack and in Teams. What it does alone and what it sends to a person for approval is set by built-in rules plus rules the user adds. Sensitive actions such as password changes stay with a person. Available on Pro and Business Premium (the first dot is included; pricing for extra ones has not been announced), and on Enterprise as a beta an admin enables. Free and Plus are not on the list.
What it means for an owner
A dot works like a team member: it takes a goal and keeps working on it in the background while you do other things. It needs what a new hire needs: a goal, limits, someone who checks, and a number that shows the result. Without those, the agent quickly automates whatever mess the process already has.
What to do this week
- Do not buy the plan for everyone. Pick one background task with a clear "done": a morning list of unanswered leads, matching payments to the CRM, renewal reminders to clients.
- Write the agent a half-page job description: what it does alone, what needs approval, what is off limits. These are exactly the rules Dots accepts from the user.
- Name one person who reviews the agent's action log for 15 minutes once a week.
- Measure one number before launch (for example, leads waiting more than a day for a reply) and again a month later.
Your people stay. What changes is what they get done in a week.
Sources
OpenAI, "Introducing Dots" (announced at DevDay, 29 Sep 2026; the page shows no date) · TechCrunch, "OpenAI launches Dots" (29 Sep 2026) · Decrypt, "OpenAI Gave AI Agents Their Own Computers at DevDay 2026" (29 Sep 2026)
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Book a free callAuthor: Alex Boch (Alexey Bocharov), Fractional COO for companies of 5-30 people. I run operations for an international network of nine business clubs and build the systems teams work in. Every note here is checked against the primary source. About me · What a fractional COO does