By Si Fisher · Published
Your chatbot just applied for a full-time job. ChatGPT Dots are OpenAI’s new AI coworkers that can keep working between conversations—researching, preparing drafts and following ongoing projects. My advice: if your account has access, give one a small job you can check before handing it the office keys. Eligible Pro and Business Premium users can start on desktop; Enterprise needs an admin-enabled beta. Here’s who gets one, what I would try first, and why “included” is not the same as unlimited.
Check whether you can create a Dot Official ChatGPT page · desktop setup
Start on desktop
Open Dots, connect only the app needed for one job, and inspect the first result.
Ask your admin
The beta starts off. Your workspace admin must enable it before you can set up a Dot.
Wait before paying
A plan name alone does not settle your market, admin setting, or rollout timing.
What does a Dot actually do?
A Dot is an ongoing ChatGPT agent, powered by GPT-6 Astra, with its own cloud computer. You can give it a goal, connect permitted apps, check its activity, and pick up the conversation later. OpenAI says it can prepare work across those sources and ask you for decisions when needed. That is more responsibility than a one-off chat reply, but it is not a promise that every task will be correct or every app will be available. OpenAI’s launch gives the product scope; its safety explanation explicitly says Dots can make mistakes.
Your own computer stays separate by default. Connecting it is an optional step that you must enable from the desktop app. That distinction matters: letting a Dot read one connected source is a smaller decision than granting it access to local files and tools.
Who can get a Dot now?
OpenAI’s current Help Center separates the checks. Pro is rolling out outside the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK. Business Premium is available across supported ChatGPT regions. Enterprise users can try the beta after their workspace admin enables it; OpenAI also names Edu and Healthcare in its enterprise rollout. In every lane, gradual rollout means an eligible account may still wait several days.
Create the Dot in the ChatGPT desktop app or on desktop web. Once it exists, you can message it from the mobile app when mobile access reaches your account. You cannot create one on mobile today, and mobile web does not support Dots. If the button is missing, first check your plan, market and workspace setting, then allow for the stated rollout delay. Repeatedly hunting through menus will not speed up a staged release.
The first Dot task I would try: an invoice draft
OpenAI describes an early user whose Dot noticed a missed invoice, prepared it and sent it after approval. I would start one step smaller: use a connected source email or document to prepare a draft invoice for me to check. That tests whether the Dot can find the right facts without asking it to contact a client or move money. Only connect an app if its permissions and available information fit the job.
“Using only the client email thread I identify, find the agreed service, amount and billing details. Prepare a draft invoice and list every fact you could not verify. Show me which message supports each detail. Do not send the invoice, message the client, edit my books or schedule follow-up work. Stop and ask me if a required detail is missing.”
My review: open the original thread, confirm the amount, recipient and work performed, then decide whether to issue the invoice through your normal billing process. If the thread lacks a required fact or the connector is unavailable, a stopped draft is the useful result. This is a suggested first assignment from the documentation, not a task I have tested in a Dot account.
What can it do without asking?
You choose which apps to connect. Dots can use permitted connected information for proactive read-only research when you are away; OpenAI says that background process cannot directly send messages, change connected app content or control a browser or desktop. Other requested tasks can take actions within your permissions and built-in safeguards. Custom Rules can allow, require approval for, or block particular actions; a separate Auto-review system checks actions such as sending email or changing files. Some sensitive steps are always handed back to you, while other steps may proceed under authorization you already gave. OpenAI’s safety explanation is more useful here than assuming every click triggers a fresh approval.
Before connecting a business system, inspect the scope and start with the smallest useful permission. OpenAI’s Help Center says disconnecting an app stops that connection but does not erase information your Dot already learned from it. You can pause the Dot when you want it to stop working; reset is a stronger step that deletes its conversations, memories and scheduled tasks. Review consequential output even when the safeguards let the task proceed.
What does a Dot cost—and what uses your allowance?
The first Dot is included at no extra Dot charge for eligible Pro or Business Premium users, according to OpenAI’s launch. It is not a free-standing subscription for everyone: you need an eligible plan and account.
The current Pro tier help lists Pro 100 at $100/month, Pro 200 at $200/month and Pro 500 at $500/month in US dollars; new Pro 200 subscriptions are available again.
OpenAI’s Business FAQ lists a Premium seat at US $125 per user per month on monthly billing or $100 per user per month when billed annually. A Business workspace needs at least two paid seats, which may mix Standard and Premium seats. Check the offer in your own account and region before changing plans just for Dots.
OpenAI has not published a simple permanent per-Dot price for adding more Dots in these sources. It says extra Dots and ways to scale their speed or monthly work are planned for later. If your account has no access, do not buy a different tier on the assumption that it will arrive immediately.
Should you use one now or wait?
If you already have access and a task with clear source material, a reviewable result and only the access it needs, give one Dot that small job. If your plan, market or admin gate is closed, wait for the rollout or use the tools you already have. If the only candidate task needs broad inbox, computer and payment access from day one, define a smaller task first. An always-on agent should earn the next permission through useful checked work, not a spectacular product video.
For the wider decision, my AI agents for small business guide covers where an agent fits at all. The Meta Muse small-business guide covers a different product and its own connections. If connecting AI to actual business systems is the hard part, the implementation service is a natural next step after you know which job deserves automation.
Quick questions
Can I use Dots on ChatGPT Plus?
OpenAI’s September 29 launch names Pro, Business Premium and admin-enabled Enterprise beta, with Edu and Healthcare included in the enterprise rollout. It does not list Plus access today. Check the current official rollout before upgrading, because eligibility may change.
Can a Dot use my laptop?
Yes, if you choose to connect your computer in the desktop app and confirm access. Local access starts turned off; the Dot already has its own separate cloud computer. You can revoke local access later.
Will disconnecting an app erase what my Dot learned?
No. OpenAI says disconnecting stops the connection but does not delete information already obtained. Resetting the Dot removes its conversations, saved memories and scheduled tasks; read the deletion notice before doing that.
Sources, method and updates
I checked OpenAI’s launch, current Help Center, safety explanation and plan help on September 29, 2026. The first-task prompt and wait/use advice are my synthesis, not a firsthand test. I separated the two current usage statements because they do not resolve every delegated-task case. Corrections: hello@theprotoolkit.com.
- OpenAI, Introducing dots (September 29, 2026)
- OpenAI Help, Getting started with your dot (checked September 29, 2026)
- OpenAI, How we build safety, security, and privacy into dots (September 29, 2026)
- OpenAI Help, About ChatGPT Pro tiers (checked September 29, 2026)
- OpenAI Help, ChatGPT Business General FAQ (checked September 29, 2026)
Update log: September 29, 2026 — initial launch-day guide. Recheck access, markets, allowance terms and plan prices before relying on them later.