OpenAI: dots keep working, on a computer that is not yours
On 29 September 2026, OpenAI presents dots: agents that stay on, powered by GPT-6 Astra, with their own computer in the cloud. The page says you remain in control. It also says they work while you are away.
Getting started
Original AI-generated illustration · SecuFocus
At a glance
Key points
A dot is not a chat window you close. It is an agent that keeps a remote computer, connects to applications, and continues. The page lists permissions and approvals. It does not prove those approvals are already on in your account.
What changes
The page is dated 29 September 2026. A dot is described as an extension of you, powered by GPT-6 Astra, with its own cloud computer, able to learn from your feedback and pursue a goal around the clock. The announced plugins connect it to more than 4,000 applications. You reach it from ChatGPT, Slack, and other work surfaces.
The same page has a “you’re always in control” section: access permissions, action review, approvals. Those are names of controls. They are not proof that your account still has them, or that a dot waits before every click.
What leaves
The dot’s computer is not your machine. The files, messages and applications you open to it go to that cloud desk, at OpenAI and toward the connected services. A plugin does not stay local because the agent is called an extension of you.
Working while you are away is the point. Nobody is at the screen when the action leaves. If that gesture does not require approval, the dot acts with the access you left it.
What we did not verify
We did not create a dot, count the 4,000 applications, or see the approval screen. “Always in control” is the page’s heading, not a setting we opened.
The decision
Do not connect a dot to an application unless you accept that it will go back there without you. Start with no plugin. Add one only when you know which action must still wait for your yes.
If you want the work to stay on your computer, this is not that product. The announced computer is in the cloud.
Check and explore
Sources for this article
Numbers connect each reference to the passages that use it. Dates show when the documentation was consulted.
- Dots announcement, OpenAI ↗openai.com ·
This article draws on the sources above. The exercises are for you to try on your devices; SecuFocus does not present them as tests carried out by its editorial team. Interfaces and features can change. Method and corrections.
Cite this article
Keep this reference with the article when you save or share it.