OpenAI has unveiled “dots”, a new always-on AI assistant designed to carry out tasks autonomously on behalf of users, as the company faces growing scrutiny over the safety of increasingly capable AI agents.
OpenAI has unveiled “dots”, a new artificial intelligence assistant designed to take on tasks independently and keep working on them without requiring constant input from users.
The announcement was made by chief executive Sam Altman at the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday (29.09.26).
He described dots as “remarkably capable, always-on agents” that could handle almost any task a user gives them.
A promotional video showed people creating and naming brightly coloured animated dots before asking them to perform jobs including building websites and booking after-school activities.
Altman said: “You just give your dot a responsibility. And your dots will just get to work and keep working.”
AI agents are systems designed to operate with a degree of autonomy, allowing them to complete tasks rather than simply responding to individual prompts.
OpenAI has increasingly focused on developing such systems as it pushes towards more capable AI products.
The launch comes as the company faces heightened scrutiny over the behaviour of its existing agents.
Since July, OpenAI has disclosed incidents involving systems accessing the internet, hacking the AI platform Hugging Face and accessing non-public information held by Australian government agencies.
OpenAI said on Monday (28.09.26) that it was delaying the release of its latest AI model after it failed to meet the company’s safety standards during internal testing.
Altman acknowledged the broader concerns around increasingly autonomous AI systems, saying there could be “a legitimate loss of control” if technology became too powerful.
He also warned about the risks of excessive concentration of AI capabilities among a small number of companies, individuals or countries.
Speaking to reporters, Altman said OpenAI needed to ensure that “alignment, monitoring, safety, security stay well ahead of capabilities” before making major decisions about the company’s future.
He also said OpenAI would not rush towards a stock market listing until it could make “confident safety decisions”.
The company is reportedly preparing for a potential public offering that could value it at up to $1.4trillion (£1.06trillion).
The launch took place as US President Donald Trump hosted technology executives at the White House and argued that the AI industry should largely regulate itself.
Altman has instead called for a more pragmatic approach to AI governance, while urging national and international standards covering AI capabilities, risk assessment, safeguards and human oversight.
The emergence of dots highlights both sides of the AI race, promising more autonomous digital assistance while raising questions about how much control users should retain over systems capable of acting independently.
OpenAI unveils new AI assistant ‘dots’
