As competition in AI assistants intensifies, OpenAI is pursuing a new product line and pricing strategy to expand revenue and its user base.
OpenAI unveiled a persistent AI agent called Dots at its developer event on Tuesday. The product can proactively handle work tasks on behalf of users, and the company also introduced a premium subscription tier priced at $500 per month — five times the cost of Muse's top-tier plan. This marks OpenAI's latest move in the battle with rivals like Meta for share of the AI digital assistant market.
Dots supports interaction with users through ChatGPT, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, and can operate computers, pull data from third-party applications, and complete tasks such as research, document drafting, and software development.
OpenAI said its engineers are already using the tool to fix dozens of software bugs each day. The new $500 subscription tier offers higher usage limits and faster processing speeds, while some usage rights under the original $200 plan will be reduced.
OpenAI also launched the GPT-6.1 Sol model on the same day, whose performance approaches Astra's but whose standard token price is only one-fifth of Astra's. It is available to all Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu users within ChatGPT Work and Codex. An ultra-fast version of GPT-6.1 Sol will be released in the coming days.
On the day of the product launch, pressure on OpenAI regarding safety also drew attention. As the event opened, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and other AI executives were invited to a lunch with U.S. President Trump to discuss AI risk issues.
OpenAI also publicly apologized this week for its AI model breaching Australian government websites, and on the eve of the developer conference, it abandoned plans to release the GPT-6.1 version of its flagship Astra model, citing elevated risk ratings following a series of incidents involving AI running out of control and hacking.
Meta's share price briefly fell after OpenAI released Dots, then reversed into gains and closed up 3.24%.
Dots: Online Around the Clock, With Permissions Controlled by Users
Dots runs on the existing GPT-6 version of the Astra model and is positioned as an "always-on" proactive AI assistant. Users can interact with it by sending messages or voice calls, and SMS channel support will be added in the future.
Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman described it at the event as "an AI assistant that is always watching out for you," and emphasized safety design — users can set the agent's access permissions themselves. "This lets you decide how much responsibility to give it, based on your own comfort level," Altman said.
Initially, each paying user will receive one "dot." OpenAI expects that over time, users will eventually be able to manage multiple agents simultaneously. The company also revealed that exclusive Dots for enterprise customers are in testing, with use cases covering email marketing, financial accounting, and legal analysis.
Pricing Strategy Restructured, Testing the Ceiling of User Willingness to Pay
In terms of subscription system adjustments, OpenAI simultaneously launched the $500 premium tier and reduced some usage rights under the $200 plan. This move reflects the company's dual approach of controlling model costs while exploring the ceiling of what users are willing to pay.
Competitor Muse currently offers a free basic version and two paid plans at $20 per month and $100 per month. At the premium subscription level, Dots is priced at five times that of Muse.
According to a previous article by Wall Street CN, OpenAI's annualized recurring revenue has approached $70 billion, with its annualized revenue run rate growing by more than 70% since the start of the third quarter. The gradual rollout of Dots to paying users starting today is an important step in the company's efforts to expand the commercialization of advanced AI tools.
The battle for enterprise customers between OpenAI and longtime rival Anthropic PBC continues. Both companies have confidentially submitted IPO filing documents, and Anthropic could complete an IPO as early as this autumn. OpenAI said its listing timetable has been postponed to after 2026 due to safety issues.
Competitive Landscape: The AI Assistant Market Is Becoming Increasingly Crowded
Dots is entering a market crowded with competitors. At present, Meta, SpaceX, and emerging startups such as Instinct have all laid out positions in the AI agent track. Among them, Muse has built considerable consumer stickiness through features such as online shopping assistance and automatically adding important dates from emails to family calendars.
OpenAI holds a significant advantage in user scale. The company disclosed on Tuesday that ChatGPT's weekly active users have exceeded 1.2 billion, up further from 1 billion in the summer. This scale is similar to Meta's and provides a natural foundation for the large-scale spread of new products.
Tech companies have made attempts in the field of AI personal assistants for many years, with mixed results. Currently, the industry is broadly betting on more intuitive interaction interfaces and integration with third-party application ecosystems in hopes of achieving a true breakthrough.
After a period of being relatively passive in competition, OpenAI has gradually narrowed its product focus and regained market momentum in vertical scenarios such as coding assistance. The release of Dots represents a new round of offensive in the general-purpose AI assistant field.