OpenAI CEO Sam Altman delivers a keynote speech at the OpenAI Developer Conference at Fort Mason on September 29, 2026 in San Francisco, California.
Heather Deal | Getty Images
Continue meta OpenAI, which released its blockbuster Muse AI agent earlier this month, entered the personal agent market with Dots on Tuesday, setting the stage for what could be the next big battle in the artificial intelligence market.
At its annual developer conference DevDay, OpenAI described Dots as an “always-on” agent designed to help users complete a variety of tasks. Since Muse’s announcement three weeks ago, investors have rallied around Meta, sending the stock up 29% in September, its fastest monthly rise since 2013.
This level of enthusiasm underscores the power of personal agents and the promise that consumers and office workers will be able to use the technology to book travel, pay bills, reply to emails, and do even more tasks. But OpenAI’s entry, which came on the heels of Muse’s launch, is a reminder that the AI market includes a small number of large companies clustered around the same type of products with little ability to lock in users.
google The company calls Gemini Spark’s service a “24/7 personal AI agent” for support. apple is looking to strengthen its position in the AI battle with a redesigned Siri AI. Siri AI is described as a “highly capable personal assistant.”
“I think what we’re looking at is the inevitable evolution of technology,” says John Waldman, CEO of HR technology startup Homebase and a user of various AI agent-related tools. “It’s probably not surprising that it all happened around the same time.”
It’s not just big companies that are eyeing this opportunity.
AI assistant startup Instinct announced Monday that it has raised $1 billion from Sequoia and other venture firms at a $10 billion valuation. And Town, another startup, is reportedly considering a $1 billion valuation.
Town CEO Jean-Denis Grèze told CNBC in a statement that the debut of Dots by OpenAI “continues to validate this category and the need for work assistants.”
“That’s been our focus at Town from the beginning,” Glaze said, adding that he welcomed the competition.
All eyes were on OpenAI on Tuesday as investors and AI enthusiasts anticipated what the ChatGPT creator would announce following last week’s Meta Connect developer conference. There, Meta announced upcoming AI devices, including a pendant, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Muse the “centerpiece” of the company’s AI strategy.
Altman, speaking in San Francisco for DevDay, said Dots is “very capable” and “built to really handle anything you can think of.” While developers can already use OpenAI’s existing tools to manage large numbers of AI agents for a variety of office tasks, Dots is expected to be an easy way for employees to use powerful digital assistants to assist with tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Gives a sense of elation over the safety of AI
The continuation of new agents coming to market is a brighter story for AI companies, as major laboratories face increased scrutiny amid concerns that cutting-edge models risk slipping out of human control.
On Tuesday, while Altman was attending DevDay, his second in command, Greg Brockman, was in Washington for President Donald Trump’s luncheon with top technology leaders. The event, with the theme of AI safety, came more than two weeks after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei sent shockwaves through the industry with an essay urging AI companies to slow down the pace of frontier model development.
Nick Deveau, CEO of AI sales startup GrottoAI, is a fan of AI agent tools like Instinct, and he sees this kind of vision as companies start building AI agent tools for a broader audience.
Dots, a personal assistant agent, was unveiled by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during the keynote speech at the OpenAI Developer Conference held at Fort Mason in San Francisco, California on September 29, 2026.
Heather Deal | Getty Images
“What’s interesting about all of this, and I think it’s become clear very quickly and evidenced by some of the evaluation results, is that people are seeing this as the first successful proof point of true agency work impacting consumers,” DeVoe said.
There are still questions about whether consumers will pay. Meta’s Muse is free with limited usage, then available for purchase starting at $20/month. OpenAI’s Dots is only available on Pro plans starting at $100 per month.
And even though Muse has millions of downloads across app stores, Waldman said that doesn’t mean people are actively using it or other AI agents.
“People will try it, but will it really add value?” Waldman said. “Is it part of your daily routine?”
“The race is on,” Thomas Randall, research director at Info-Tech Research Group, said in an email as AI companies explore how consumers want to interact with agents and what keeps customers coming back.
“If the leading system has a wide range of capabilities, the winner will likely be determined by which agents are the easiest to deploy, the most connected, and the least likely to defect,” Randall said. “Let’s see whose distribution gains traction first.”
Watch: Interview with OpenAI’s Sam Altman
