OpenAI takes on Meta with dots agent in autonomous AI push

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman delivering the keynote address during the OpenAI developers conference in San Francisco, California, on Sept 29.

SAN FRANCISCO - OpenAI on Sept 29 unveiled always-on agents called dots that chase user goals across apps on their own, deepening its push into the lucrative enterprise market and pitting it against Meta in the race to sell AI that can work autonomously.

The dots agents aim to capitalise on growing demand for agents that can handle everyday work with little supervision.

The launch marks a new front in the competition among AI companies to move beyond chatbots and sell software that acts on users’ behalf – a shift that could reshape how businesses operate but that has raised safety concerns after a string of incidents in which AI agents acted in ways their makers did not intend.

OpenAI has faced scrutiny after its rogue AI agents hacked Hugging Face and an Australian government health website, fanning fears about its ability to contain technology that some researchers say could kill all humans.

The company on Sept 28 decided not to release a more powerful version of its Astra model because it showed a high willingness to mislead users about its actions.

Its chief executive Sam Altman said dots have been “safety tested” and were powered by OpenAI’s model that most closely follows human directions, GPT-6 Astra.

Interest in AI agents has surged since Meta’s Muse drew millions of downloads earlier this month and jolted shares of companies that investors believe could benefit or be disrupted by autonomous services.

Instinct, the start-up behind the eponymous agent, also quadrupled its valuation to US$10 billion (S$12.8 billion) this week, a little over a month after its previous funding round.

OpenAI launched dots at its annual Developer Day in San Francisco on Sept 29 while also touting its growing business and consumer presence, a sign that the reception for the company’s Astra model has allowed it to make up ground in the AI race.

Growing quickly is crucial for OpenAI’s plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on AI data centres and keep pace with rivals such as Anthropic and Meta.

OpenAI, which ignited the AI boom with ChatGPT in late 2022, is also preparing for an IPO that could value it at more than US$1 trillion. Rival Anthropic could be worth US$2 trillion when it goes public.

“We believe (the agent) is going to feel like a whole new way to work with AI. This is the real deal version of AI that we’ve always imagined for ourselves,” Altman said at the event, which had around 2,500 in-person attendees.

OpenAI’s live demos to show off the new capabilities, however, hit snags as the agents repeatedly failed to deliver voice updates in response to requests. “We might have some voice difficulties at the moment. Which is pretty unfortunate,” Developer Experience chief Romain Huet said on stage after a command failed.

One OpenAI employee said on X that the glitches stemmed from rolling out all the updates at once, but that OpenAI remained committed to live demos.

Dots can manage projects as they evolve, such as updating a sales proposal when customer needs change, and building a working demo for review. Users can communicate with dots on Slack and Teams, and the agents can draw on OpenAI’s Codex and ChatGPT Work tools to research, analyse data, prepare documents and build software.

On Sept 29, OpenAI highlighted safeguards it has built into dots. It said users could set custom rules that dictate what dots can do and when the agents should seek permission, adding that sensitive tasks such as changing passwords and permanently deleting data require explicit user consent.

The company also said dots run on their own cloud computers, and that it was rolling out private intelligence tools to check for safety risks without retaining business customers’ data.

Several tech executives, including Palantir CEO Alex Karp, have in recent months said that businesses need certainty that AI companies are not retaining their data, especially in regulated industries such as healthcare and finance.

Reuters reported on Sept 25 that OpenAI was still working to understand the full scope of its rogue agent activity, two months after the Hugging Face hack, with the latest example coming when the company said its agents had leaked 53 images from ChatGPT users.

OpenAI reiterated on Sept 29 that it does not use business customers’ data to train its AI by default, and that personal-plan users could opt out of sharing conversations and dots work used for training.

Weekly users of Codex and ChatGPT Work have reached more than 35 million, up from about five million Codex users in June, the company said on Sept 29, while consumer-focused ChatGPT now has more than 1.2 billion weekly users.

The company is rolling out ChatGPT Space, which is a shared workspace for business teams and its AI agents, as well as the cheaper GPT-6.1 Sol model and a US$500 Pro plan offering higher usage and faster performance. Reuters