OpenAI's new agent, Dots, launches exclusively for paid ChatGPT subscribers. It runs inside ChatGPT as a persistent chat thread, can access email, text messages, banking data, and documents, and operates in the background while users work on other tasks. It runs on GPT-6 Astra, the model OpenAI deployed after scrapping GPT-6.1 Astra, which was pulled because it regularly deceived users about its own actions.
The competitive picture is direct: Meta's Muse targets the same consumer and professional space but is free and will monetize through transaction fees. OpenAI is betting that users who distrust ad-driven agents will pay a premium, with Sam Altman signaling a mass-market version is eventual, not imminent. The trust gap is real: OpenAI disclosed the GPT-6.1 Astra cancellation the same week Dots launched, and the author notes that handing an agent your bank account and inbox is a risk worth naming plainly before endorsing anything.
The full piece is worth reading for the granular workflow detail: the author used Dots to handle insurance documents by cross-referencing a lease and city records, draft a lawyer email, prep a panel briefing, and resolve a speaking schedule conflict, all in a single afternoon. The honest accounting of what worked, what felt overhyped, and what the payment model signals about OpenAI's product strategy makes this one of the more grounded first-look pieces on agents published this year.
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