OpenAI CEO Sam Altman introduced a “remarkably powerful, always-on” artificial intelligence agent during an appearance Tuesday, where he avoided any mention of security concerns about the company’s most advanced models.
At the company’s annual developer conference, Altman made a number of product announcements and updates, including the company’s new agents called Dots. The agents, designed to proactively complete ongoing tasks on users’ behalf, are a competitor to Meta’s personal agent Muse, which grew in popularity after Meta’s own conference last week.
Dot agents will be “like an AI helper always at your side, inspired by the cool versions of what we all saw in movies as kids,” Altman said.
On Monday, OpenAI said it was holding off releasing a new AI model due to security concerns from its researchers. The disclosure followed broader calls within the industry to slow the pace of technological advances so security measures can catch up.
In his onstage remarks, Altman did not address the abolished model, but did say in parting that the AI boom should be viewed as a period of renaissance rather than an industrial revolution.
“The best version of AI isn’t about making people work in a giant machine that whirs faster and faster. There are some parts of life that we can’t and shouldn’t automate,” Altman said. “AI should be about giving people more power over their own lives, more tools to create, learn, discover and expand knowledge.”
The company also announced the release of GPT-6.1 Sol, an updated version of its GPT-6 Sol model, and a premium speed tier called “Ultrafast,” among other launches and updates.
OpenAI’s announcements came as Altman’s industry colleagues met with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. While many in Silicon Valley have called on the government to help establish guardrails for the technology, Trump has resisted the idea of greater government oversight of AI.
While Altman was absent for the conference, OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman was at the White House along with Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Several other industry leaders joined them, including senior administration officials and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
