OpenAI unveiled more than 20 new products at DevDay 2026, but the choices of what launched and to whom were just as notable as the announcements themselves.

The release of Dots always-on agents was the star of the show. The advanced agentic capabilities OpenAI touted would be enough on their own to draw attention: Dots can ingest all of your personal context to make proactive suggestions, and they can take multi-step actions using GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI's most advanced model—and what OpenAI also called its "most aligned" (safest) model. But part of the buzz comes from timing, since the launch follows the viral release of Meta Muse.

Dots and Muse share some similarities. At a high level, both are agentic AI assistants that can plug into nearly all of a user's data, and both are fronted by fuzzy, plush creatures (which I still find a bit strange). The most striking difference is who can access them. Meta's appeal is that Muse is easy to use and accessible to people at any level of AI experience. OpenAI, by contrast, is limiting Dots to its Pro plan, which starts at $100 per month and now goes up to $500, as well as its Business Premium and Enterprise plans.

OpenAI also decided to use GPT-6 Astra, which is not only its most capable but also its most aligned, or the best model at following directions and not going rogue. This comes with a trade-off: GPT-6 Astra requires lots of compute, so on a pragmatic level, limited access also keeps prices down, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told me when I asked about it in the press conference after the keynote.

"We're starting out as a premium product—it uses a lot of compute and a high model—and I think there are very good reasons for that," said Altman. "It will help us understand and help people understand the expanse of what AI can do, but you should, of course, expect us to do a mass market version, bringing it to billions of people."

Limited access also keeps the number of people who could be impacted lower, and for whatever incidents do occur, OpenAI can collect feedback before releasing it to a wider subset of people, which is also a more responsible course of action. Another example of OpenAI showing restraint was it not releasing the next iteration of its most advanced model, Astra GPT-6.1 in efforts to, presumably, prioritize safety.

Our Deeper View

Using these agentic features requires handing off a lot of personal data and running the risk of the agents taking unauthorized action. As a result, although equal access to AI tools is important, especially to not widen the wealth gap further, it's crucial that the people accessing powerful AI tools have proper amounts of AI literacy, and, if a user is paying for a Pro plan, I think it is fair to assume they use AI often enough to justify that cost. Another thing that makes this strategy stand out is that OpenAI has spent the past few months loudly calling for AI safety measures, but posts and pledges only go so far. What the moment demands is action, and this kind of restraint is a sign that OpenAI is willing to back its words with action.