OpenAI launches always-on agents, Pro users get first access
Always-on agents are now bundled into ChatGPT's main plans, competing head-on with Meta and xAI; real capability awaits user testing.
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OpenAI introduced Dots at its DevDay on September 29 — always-on agents that work for users around the clock from a cloud computer.
Each Dots agent can plug into more than 4,000 apps and reply in Slack, Teams, or ChatGPT, with conversations that don't count against ChatGPT usage plans. They run on the GPT-6 Astra model. Pro and Business Premium subscribers each get a first Dots agent included, while Enterprise, Edu, and Healthcare users can try a beta that is off by default until an admin enables it.
Meta's Muse and xAI's Grok Bot entered this category first; OpenAI's differentiator is its own frontier models. All capability descriptions so far come from OpenAI's own announcement, and real-world reliability remains to be seen at scale.