OpenAI launches Dots, its most expensive agent, while holding back Astra 6.1
OpenAI released Dots, an always-on enterprise agent built on Astra and priced higher than anything else on the market, while delaying Astra 6.1 the same week as Altman said the company is entering a steep part of the capabilities curve.
OpenAI just launched its most expensive AI agent ever. The same week, it held back its most powerful model. Sam Altman explained why in a live Bloomberg interview at Dev Day. Dots is an always-on agent built on Astra, OpenAI's best model. It's aimed at getting work done, mostly for enterprises. It costs more than anything else on the market, and Altman says the price reflects the compute behind it. A mass-market version is coming later. Next to it sits GPT 6.1 Soul, which the host described as Astra-level capability at a fifth of the price. OpenAI's strategy is to push quality up and price down, because the better AI gets, the more people use it. On the reported $70 billion ARR, Altman neither confirmed nor denied the number. He only said he's very pleased with the growth. Then the twist. OpenAI held back Astra 6.1 this week. A week earlier, it paused training on another model. Altman says the company is entering "a very steep part of the capabilities curve." If safety requires slowing down, it will slow down. He understands why some people want "full YOLO, pedal to the metal," but says that's not the plan. The IPO can wait too. He wants OpenAI to make these decisions without the pressure of being a newly public company. His ask for the industry: shared standards for safety cases, checked by independent evaluators, governments or the companies themselves. The most expensive product ships. The most powerful model stays in reserve. Is that responsible leadership, or a convenient way to explain why not everything can ship at once?