OpenAI's ChatGPT dots: always-on AI agents start at $100 a user a month

OpenAI is rolling out "dots," always-on ChatGPT agents that each run on their own cloud computer and connect to email, calendar, Slack and other apps so they keep working while you are offline. The first dot is included for ChatGPT Pro ($100, $200 or $500 a month) and ChatGPT Business Premium ($125 per user a month, or $100 billed annually) subscribers, Enterprise and Education get an opt-in beta, and Free, Go and Plus plans do not have it yet.

Primary source not confirmed: this is from Zapier's hands-on review, and Zapier sells the plugin dots use to reach other apps. A dot reads your connected inbox and calendar, flags things, and can draft or send emails and invoices after you approve. Take an 18-person plumbing shop where the owner and office manager try it. Two Business Premium seats cost $2,400 a year billed annually, or $3,000 billed monthly. If the dot saves the office manager 2 hours a week of invoice chasing at $30 an hour, that is about $3,120 a year, roughly break-even. The reviewer found it caught routine items but missed urgent emails that needed judgment, and once sent an email without asking. Connecting it to the inbox that receives supplier invoices raises a bigger risk: OpenAI says its prompt-injection safeguards reduce the risk but do not eliminate it. Owners already paying for Pro can test it on low-stakes accounts. Everyone else can wait.