At OpenAI's DevDay on September 29, there were many announcements.
But the one that will get the most screen time is a fluffy blob wearing a beret…
Because Silicon Valley has finally admitted its ideal coworker is a plush toy with root access.
Dots are always-on agents, driven by GPT-6 Astra, which work for you round the clock.
You name your dot, link your apps, and then talk to it as you would to a colleague who never logs off, never steals your milk, and never “circles back” after quietly doing nothing.
Well, what is a dot then?
Imagine OpenAI just copied Grok Bot… well…
Each dot is given its own cloud computer together with its own browser, and is able to access more than 4,000 apps via OpenAI's plugins.
You can message it through ChatGPT, Slack or Teams, or just call it when you are missing your ex whenever typing seems like too much of an effort.
If you're not talking to it, it carries out what OpenAI refers to as "proactive research" in the background…
Which is corporate for “it is already in your Calendar judging your life choices.”
It does this using read-only tools, so it can browse around your apps without sending any messages or making any changes.
Technically stalking… but with a compliance stamp.
What does that mean for developers?
OpenAI's developer example is a dot that monitors customer feedback, identifies minor fixes, develops and tests them, and then brings you completed pull requests with videos attached.
Your backlog just got a new predator.
Below, a dot named Iggy notices that an app's iOS beta checklist can no longer be found after the most recent deployment, offers to restore it, and has the fix ready for review before any code is merged.
Meanwhile, your human teammate is still opening Jira…
Who decides what it's allowed to do?
Before the dot carries out any action which could affect your accounts or involve sharing information, auto-review checks it against your instructions, your Custom Rules and OpenAI's safety requirements.
You can see everything it does, including the background work, in Activity View, which is either transparency or a highlight reel of how replaceable you are.
Can we get one?
Dots are being made available to Pro and Business Premium users.
And Enterprise admins can turn on a beta… presumably after a 47-slide security review titled:
“What If The Beret Goes Rogue.”
OpenAI is also running trials of specialist dots for companies, each of which has its own identity and access, and bringing them to Microsoft Agent 365.
Because nothing says “future of work” like a fluffy blob inside a Microsoft admin centre.
If I get one, I'm picking the frog!
👉 Dots
Want more from The Agentic Rewind #1? The full issue also covers Callstack's Apex (the Pixel Canary reveal) and this week's pack of agent links.
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From The Agentic Rewind #1. Read the full issue here.
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