OpenAI introduced dots on Tuesday at its DevDay conference. A dot is an always-on agent with its own cloud computer. It connects to more than 4,000 apps, works inside ChatGPT, Slack, and Teams, and learns from feedback over time. OpenAI describes it as "an extension of you."
It's cheap for an owner to try. The first dot is included at no extra cost with ChatGPT Pro or a ChatGPT Business Premium seat. A Premium seat is $125 a month billed monthly, and a Business workspace needs at least two seats, so a Premium seat for the owner plus a $25 Standard seat for someone else comes to $150 a month.
The obvious move is to put the dot on the owner's seat, because the owner carries the most work. Then the dot learns the owner. It pulls in memories from ChatGPT and builds its own from the apps it connects to, according to OpenAI's help page, which adds that "to delete your dot's own saved memories, you need to delete your dot." OpenAI also says you currently can't view, delete, or modify individual dot memories. Reset deletes the dot along with its conversations, saved memories, and scheduled tasks. Nothing OpenAI has published says what happens to a dot when a Business seat is removed.
That matters most in a company that already leans too hard on one person. Today the owner's know-how lives in the owner's head. Put a dot on that seat and a second copy of it lives in an account the company can't inspect memory by memory, and OpenAI hasn't said whether that copy can move to another employee or go to a buyer. A buyer pays for a business that runs without its founder. An agent trained on the founder's habits is one more part of the business that depends on the founder.
For an owner who is the bottleneck, the tool may still be worth the money. What decides whether it helps or hurts is where the instructions live.
Write the dot's instructions in a document the company owns, then hand it to the dot by attaching the file in the conversation or connecting the app where it lives. If the dot goes away, the instructions stay with the business. Monday's essay made the broader case for redesigning the work before buying the tool, and it applies with more force to a tool that remembers.
RVRBN builds AI systems so a small business can run without its owner, which gives us an interest in owners setting it up this way.
Set a Custom Rule to "Ask before taking action" for actions that send a message or change a record. OpenAI's own guidance is that dots "can still make mistakes, so always review consequential work."
Watch the price, too. OpenAI says plans include extended limits for the first month after launch. It hasn't said what the ongoing allowance is, or what additional dots will cost once they're offered.
Before anyone on a Premium seat leaves, ask OpenAI or whoever sold you the seats what happens to that person's dot and everything it learned. OpenAI's help page for dots doesn't say, and it's the kind of answer you want in writing.
OpenAI calls the dot an extension of you. For an owner who plans to sell or hand off the company, that's the problem.
If you want to talk through what this means for your company, get in touch.