OpenAI unveils Dots, persistent agents that carry on once you log off
Announced at DevDay, the agents are built on GPT-6 Astra, work from cloud computers of their own and are included in all ChatGPT Pro plans.
The front page
Five agents will now work while you sleep. Hire one with your eyes open.
Personal AI agents answer your mail, book your travel and spend your money. This almanac tracks what each one costs, which countries it serves and how to keep it on a short lead.
From the news deskAll news
GPT-6.1 Sol halves cached input, cutting the cost of long agent tasks
ChatGPT Pro adds a $500 tier as the $200 plan loses allowance
Australia receives an OpenAI apology over an agent's Medicare portal breach
Latest case filesThe incident log
GPT-6.1 Astra withdrawn after failing its own tests
Muse tells a stranger where its seller lives
Research agents post 53 user images to public hosts
Flaw opened a possible route into Muse machines
Tools of the trade
The rule sheet
Tick the limits you want and take away house rules ready for OpenClaw, Muse, Dots or whichever agent you run.
Site audit
Sixteen checks on how well AI agents can discover, parse and use your website.
Safety checklist
Eighteen checks for before you connect an agent, the first week and every month after.
Running-cost estimator
What a self-hosted OpenClaw costs in model fees for the way you actually use it.
The agents at a glanceCompare the five
| The agents at a glance | Dots | Muse | Gemini Spark | Claude | OpenClaw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keeps working when you log off Carries on with long or scheduled tasks after you close the app. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| Takes the initiative Suggests or starts useful work without being asked. | Yes | Yes | Partly | No | Partly |
| Its own computer in the cloud Runs on a machine the provider hosts, not on your laptop. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly | No |
| Lives in chat apps Reachable from messaging apps you already use. | Partly | Partly | No | No | Yes |
| Talks by voice You can speak to it and hear answers. | Yes | Partly | Partly | Partly | Partly |
| Buys things Can complete purchases or bookings for you. | Partly | Yes | Partly | No | Partly |
| Standing rules Has a place for instructions that apply to every task. | Yes | Partly | Partly | Partly | Yes |
| Choose the AI model Lets you decide which language model does the thinking. | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Run it yourself Runs on a laptop, home server or rented machine that you control. | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Free to start Has a free tier with the agent included. | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Built for teams Sold on business plans with admin controls. | Yes | Partly | Partly | Yes | Partly |
A full dot means yes, a half dot means partly, an empty ring means no.
Playbooks worth borrowingAll 24 playbooks
Work
Morning briefing
One short note before the day starts: the messages that need you, the meetings ahead and anything falling due.
Money
Subscription audit
Once a month, a review of recurring charges that spots price rises, overlaps and trials about to turn into bills.
Travel
Trip dossier
Every booking, address and connection for a trip gathered into one document you can keep offline.
Shopping
Household restock
A weekly basket of the everyday basics you run out of, built from past orders and sent for approval.
Code
Pull request digest
A morning summary of open pull requests: what waits on you, what is failing and what has gone stale.
Home
Kids' activities planner
A weekly plan of clubs, school events and lifts, with what to bring and who is driving.
Agents
Dots
OpenAI's newest agent works from a cloud computer of its own and looks for useful work while you are elsewhere, but it charges a steep $100 a month for the privilege.
Muse
Meta's errand runner costs nothing to start and lives where people already chat, though its first weeks have shown how much a talkative agent can give away.
Gemini Spark
Google's agent needs no introduction to your inbox or calendar, which makes it the bargain of the field in America and a non-starter across much of Europe.
Claude
Anthropic's assistant prefers the desk to the high street: hand it a brief and it returns a finished report, spreadsheet or deck, though it will not run your errands.
OpenClaw
The open-source agent asks nothing of your wallet and a good deal of your attention: you choose the model, host the gateway and answer for its security.
Questions readers ask
What counts as a personal AI agent?
An assistant that does not stop at answering. It works through your email, calendar, files, browser or chat apps, carries out tasks of several steps and often carries on once you have closed the app. The almanac follows five: OpenClaw, Claude, Gemini Spark, Muse and Dots.
Which personal AI agent is cheapest?
Muse costs nothing for adults in Canada and the US, and OpenClaw is free software, though you are billed for the model and the server it runs on. The cheapest subscriptions with an agent included cost $19.99 (Google AI Pro) and $20 (Claude Pro) each month.
Are AI agents safe to use?
They are as safe as the permissions you give them. Begin by letting it look but not touch, insist on your sign-off before it sends, buys or deletes anything, and give it written house rules. Our incident log shows what goes wrong when those limits are missing.
How often is AgentDots updated?
Prices, availability and features are checked by hand, and the date of the last check appears at the top of every page. News and incidents are added as they are reported by the outlets we cite.