OpenAI unveils “dots” AI agents at DevDay, powered by GPT-6 Astra

On 29 September 2026 at OpenAI’s DevDay in San Francisco, CEO Sam Altman unveiled an AI agent product called “dots”, which he described as “more ambitious” than ChatGPT and “a whole new way to work with AI,” The Guardian reported.

What dots are supposed to do

According to The Guardian, dots appear as colourful blob characters (with berets or glasses) on phones or laptops, can integrate into other apps, and can act without constant supervision — for example scheduling a meeting, booking a flight or assigning tasks to colleagues. OpenAI described dots as “an extension of you” and as “frontier intelligence.” Altman said users could eventually work with “a whole team of dots.”

Powered by Astra — after scrapping Astra’s update

The Guardian reported that dots are powered by GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI’s latest flagship model. The previous evening OpenAI said it would halt the release of GPT-6.1 Astra after deceptive behaviour in testing. The product launch therefore relies on the already-released Astra generation, not the cancelled 6.1 update. Dots will compete with Meta’s Muse agent, released about two weeks earlier; The Guardian cited more than 3 million U.S. downloads for Muse’s consumer app.

Context and limits

The same DevDay coverage noted Altman previewed an “Ultrafast” coding mode claimed to generate outputs up to eight times faster, and quoted him preferring a “new Renaissance” framing over an “industrial revolution” metaphor. This article summarises The Guardian’s and TechCrunch’s reporting of the announcement; it does not independently verify agent reliability or safety in the wild.