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OpenAI used its 2026 DevDay conference on September 29 to introduce a product built around a simple pitch: an AI system that keeps working after you stop looking at it. The new OpenAI Dots AI agents run continuously in the background. They carry out tasks across ChatGPT, text messaging, email and Slack, with no need for a human to keep the conversation open.
The announcement, reported by Business Standard and other outlets covering DevDay, arrived alongside a second release. That release is GPT-6.1 Sol, a cheaper model aimed at coding and everyday professional tasks.
What the OpenAI Dots AI agents actually do
Dots is built on GPT-6 Astra. It comes with its own dedicated cloud computing resources and browser access, letting it interact with connected tools and services on a user’s behalf. According to Business Standard’s coverage of the launch, Dots can handle recurring work and delegated tasks. Users can set permissions that require confirmation before it takes certain actions. For now, access is limited to subscribers on OpenAI’s Pro, Business Premium and Enterprise tiers.
The always-on framing sets Dots apart from a standard chatbot session, which ends the moment a user closes the app. OpenAI’s pitch is that Dots can pick up multi-step projects and check back in on progress. It can keep working through tasks that would otherwise require a person to return and re-prompt the system repeatedly.
GPT-6.1 Sol: performance close to Astra at a fraction of the cost
GPT-6.1 Sol is positioned as the budget option in the GPT-6 family. It is built to approach the coding performance of the flagship GPT-6 Astra model while costing far less to run. Coverage from AI Weekly cited a price of roughly $2 per million input tokens, a fraction of what flagship-tier models typically cost. The model supports a 1.05 million-token context window. It can generate up to 128,000 output tokens in a single response, according to Business Standard’s report.
OpenAI also said safety testing showed improvements in five of eight production safety categories, compared with an earlier version of Sol. The company noted that cybersecurity vulnerability generation in Sol still lags behind GPT-6 Astra.
A new top-tier subscription plan
Alongside the model releases, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Pro 500. It is a $500-per-month plan offering the highest usage allowances among its Pro tiers, plus access to a new “Ultrafast” service tier for GPT-6 Astra. OpenAI also unveiled several other tools at DevDay. These include ChatGPT Spaces, a team collaboration workspace; Living Pages, documents that update alongside a project’s progress; Codex Cloud, a browser-based coding environment; and new Agents and Decisions APIs for developers.
What Dots and Sol change starting now
For businesses already using ChatGPT’s higher-tier plans, Dots marks a shift. It moves users from prompting an assistant toward delegating standing tasks to it, provided they are comfortable with OpenAI’s permission model. For developers, GPT-6.1 Sol’s pricing makes near-frontier coding performance available at a lower-tier cost. That could pressure rival AI labs offering similarly priced mid-tier options.
Where this fits in the wider AI race
The launch lands in a week already dense with AI news, from Anthropic’s leaked IPO filing to a White House-brokered safety accord signed by OpenAI and five other AI companies. Positioning Dots as an always-on agent puts OpenAI in more direct competition with other companies building autonomous “agentic” tools. That category has become one of the most closely watched fronts in AI development over the past year. Google, Anthropic and several well-funded startups have all shipped their own agentic tools in recent months. OpenAI chose to build Dots directly into its existing ChatGPT subscription tiers, rather than launching it as a separate product. That suggests the company wants agentic features to feel like a natural upgrade, not a new purchase decision, for its largest customers.
Questions readers are asking about OpenAI’s Dots agents
What is OpenAI Dots?
Dots is an always-on AI agent introduced at OpenAI’s 2026 DevDay. It runs continuously in the background, carrying out tasks across ChatGPT, text messaging, email and Slack. It is built on the GPT-6 Astra model.
Who can use Dots right now?
Access is currently limited to subscribers on OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro, Business Premium and Enterprise plans. That is according to Business Standard’s coverage of the DevDay announcement.
What is GPT-6.1 Sol?
GPT-6.1 Sol is a lower-cost model in the GPT-6 family aimed at coding and professional tasks. It is priced at roughly $2 per million input tokens while approaching the coding performance of the flagship GPT-6 Astra model.
How big is GPT-6.1 Sol’s context window?
The model supports a 1.05 million-token context window. It can produce up to 128,000 output tokens in a single response.
What is ChatGPT Pro 500?
It is a new $500-per-month subscription tier offering the highest usage allowances among OpenAI’s Pro plans. It also comes with access to a faster “Ultrafast” service tier for GPT-6 Astra.
Did OpenAI address safety concerns with Sol?
OpenAI said safety testing showed improvement in five of eight production safety categories, compared with an earlier Sol model. Cybersecurity vulnerability generation still trails GPT-6 Astra, the company noted.
Further reading on Tamara News
- What happened to OpenAI’s GPT-6.1 Astra
- AI labs face a new antitrust lawsuit
- OpenAI’s rogue agents and government websites
References
- Business Standard — OpenAI DevDay 2026: Dots agent, GPT-6.1 Sol, new plans and more announced. business-standard.com
- AI Weekly — OpenAI News Today. aiweekly.co
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