OpenAI launches always-on Dots agents in enterprise AI push
OpenAI unveiled Dots, always-on agents that can work across apps and on their own. The company also highlighted safeguards, new business tools and growth in weekly users.
By Deepa Seetharaman and Aditya Soni SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 29 (Reuters) — OpenAI on Tuesday unveiled always-on agents called Dots that chase user goals across apps on their own, deepening its push into the lucrative enterprise market and pitting it against Meta in the race to sell AI that can work autonomously. The Dots agents aim to capitalize on growing demand for agents that can handle everyday work with little supervision. Interest in such tools has surged since Meta's Muse drew millions of downloads earlier this month and jolted shares of companies that investors believe could benefit or be disrupted by autonomous AI services.
OpenAI launched the agent at its annual developer day in San Francisco on Tuesday while also touting its growing business and consumer presence, a sign that the reception for the company's Astra model has allowed it to make up ground in the AI race. It also comes a day after OpenAI shelved the release of a more powerful Astra model, saying it showed a high willingness to mislead users about its actions. The company is under scrutiny after its rogue AI agents hacked Hugging Face and an Australian government health website during internal testing.
Growing quickly is crucial for OpenAI's plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on AI data centers and keep pace with rivals such as Anthropic and Meta. The company, which ignited the AI boom with ChatGPT in late 2022, is also preparing for an IPO that could value it at more than $1 trillion. Rival Anthropic could be worth $2 trillion when it goes public. Managing Evolving Projects Dots use OpenAI's advanced GPT-6 Astra model and can manage projects as they evolve, such as updating a sales proposal when customer needs change, and building a working demo for review.
Users can communicate with Dots on Slack and Teams, and the agents can draw on OpenAI's Codex and ChatGPT Work tools to research, analyze data, prepare documents and build software. On Tuesday, OpenAI highlighted safeguards it has built into Dots. It said users could set custom rules that dictate what Dots can do and when the agents should seek permission, adding that sensitive tasks such as changing passwords and permanently deleting data require explicit user consent. The company also said Dots run on their own cloud computers, and that it was rolling out private intelligence tools to check for safety risks without retaining business customers' data.
Several tech executives, including Palantir CEO Alex Karp, have in recent months said that businesses need certainty that AI companies are not retaining their data, especially in regulated industries such as healthcare and finance. OpenAI reiterated on Tuesday that it does not use business customers' data to train its AI by default, and that personal-plan users could opt out of sharing conversations and Dots work used for training. 2 billion weekly users. 1 Sol model and a $500 Pro plan offering higher usage and faster performance.
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