Ask an always-on Slack agent to pick flight dates
Field Notes · AI Tool Reviews. Task: Field Notes · AI Tool Reviews OpenAI Dots review from hands-on testing: Slack setup, computer use, and sub-agents. See why I would skip it and what to use instead. This OpenAI Dots review comes down to one sentence: Dots is a glorified Codex session that runs 24/7, and I see no reason to switch to it. I did not get early access, so I could say what I really found. Here is what works, what does not, and what I would use instead. TL;DR Dots runs on GPT-6 Astra, so you pay no extra tokens for now, but you can only run one Dot. Slack setup took about three clicks, and it replies inside threads. Computer use was slower than a normal Codex session. One minute in, it had not picked flight dates yet. It is not worth moving from the $20 plan to the $100 plan for this single feature. What OpenAI Dots Actually Looks Like Dots feels like Grok Bot with half the features missing. You get a familiar chat, GPT Live Voice calling, Slack, and its own computer. Onboarding asks you to connect services. Even if you already connected them in Codex, they do not carry over, so you do it again. You can skip it entirely if you want. I test every new assistant against my own workflows. Early AI-dopters, 1,000+ people mastering Claude Code and Codex, gets the results first. Can You Spin Up a Team of Dots? No, not today. That was my baseline expectation, so I asked Dots directly, and its most common answer was "I don't know." It cannot describe its own capabilities, and you can only use one for now. OpenAI did say it wants to support multiple Dots in the future. It can spin up sub-agents, and I saw one called Zeno that kept context for the rest of the chat. You can pause it so it does not run around the clock, and you can reboot it. Is OpenAI Dots Proactive Enough to Be an Assistant? No. Astra is a strong model, but it is not very proactive, and a personal assistant should be. You have to push it to act, and it does not tell you when it is in the middle of something. That leaves you wondering whether it is latency or work. Is it thinking? Should I say hello? Hermes Agent works out of the box, even with a local or open-source model. When I asked Dots to build a site explaining how it works, it reacted with a hammer and wrench emoji, then checkmarked it when done. I have had that behavior in Hermes for three months. How Does Dots Computer Use Hold Up? It holds up poorly next to Codex. I asked it to find a flight from Montreal to Johannesburg. The only sign of life was the word "thinking," and I had to open the computer manually to see it on the Emirates website. Grok Bot would have gone to Google Flights, a better aggregator. A minute in, Dots still had not picked dates. In a normal Codex session, I would have had a short list by then. Dots vs Grok Bot vs Hermes vs Codex The winner depends on what you already run, and Dots does not win a single row. If you want a custom Jarvis, I built my own setup, so see my Grok Bot alternative and my ranking of the best AI personal assistant options. For the models underneath, read how GPT-6 Astra computer use really performs. Final Thoughts from Mark I am sure Dots will get better. Today it does not earn a place in my workflow. If you use Grok Bot, stay on Grok Bot. If you use Hermes, stay on Hermes. Wait for multiple Dots before you pay for anything. OpenAI Dots Review FAQs What is OpenAI Dots? OpenAI Dots is a personal assistant that runs 24/7 on GPT-6 Astra. It connects to Slack, offers live voice, and gets its own computer for computer use. In my testing it behaved like a dedicated Codex session with a chat interface rather than a new kind of product. Can you run multiple Dots at once? Not yet. At launch you can only use one Dot. It can spin up sub-agents, and I saw one named Zeno, but you cannot build a team of Dots. OpenAI announced it wants to support multiple Dots working together in the future. Is OpenAI Dots worth upgrading to the $100 plan? Not in my view. I would not move from the $20 plan to the $100 plan just for this feature. Codex already offers cloud runs, projects, a built-in browser, and faster computer use. If Dots comes with a plan you already pay for, it is fine to play with. How does OpenAI Dots compare to Grok Bot? Grok Bot lets you create a bot, state its goal, and tailor itself to that goal. You can also build group chats where several bots work together. Dots has none of that today, and it is missing many Grok Bot features even though the look and feel is similar.; tools: Dots, Codex. Human role: The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.; limitations: Dots currently supports only one active instance and lacks proactive status updates, leaving users unsure if the agent is thinking or idle. Computer use is significantly slower than Codex, and service connections do not carry over from previous Codex setups. The review is a single-user anecdote from a secondary source, so performance may vary by account or region..
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Field Notes · AI Tool Reviews OpenAI Dots review from hands-on testing: Slack setup, computer use, and sub-agents. See why I would skip it and what to use instead. This OpenAI Dots review comes down to one sentence: Dots is a glorified Codex session that runs 24/7, and I see no reason to switch to it. I did not get early access, so I could say what I really found. Here is what works, what does not, and what I would use instead. TL;DR Dots runs on GPT-6 Astra, so you pay no extra tokens for now, but you can only run one Dot. Slack setup took about three clicks, and it replies inside threads. Computer use was slower than a normal Codex session. One minute in, it had not picked flight dates yet. It is not worth moving from the $20 plan to the $100 plan for this single feature. What OpenAI Dots Actually Looks Like Dots feels like Grok Bot with half the features missing. You get a familiar chat, GPT Live Voice calling, Slack, and its own computer. Onboarding asks you to connect services. Even if you already connected them in Codex, they do not carry over, so you do it again. You can skip it entirely if you want. I test every new assistant against my own workflows. Early AI-dopters, 1,000+ people mastering Claude Code and Codex, gets the results first. Can You Spin Up a Team of Dots? No, not today. That was my baseline expectation, so I asked Dots directly, and its most common answer was "I don't know." It cannot describe its own capabilities, and you can only use one for now. OpenAI did say it wants to support multiple Dots in the future. It can spin up sub-agents, and I saw one called Zeno that kept context for the rest of the chat. You can pause it so it does not run around the clock, and you can reboot it. Is OpenAI Dots Proactive Enough to Be an Assistant? No. Astra is a strong model, but it is not very proactive, and a personal assistant should be. You have to push it to act, and it does not tell you when it is in the middle of something. That leaves you wondering whether it is latency or work. Is it thinking? Should I say hello? Hermes Agent works out of the box, even with a local or open-source model. When I asked Dots to build a site explaining how it works, it reacted with a hammer and wrench emoji, then checkmarked it when done. I have had that behavior in Hermes for three months. How Does Dots Computer Use Hold Up? It holds up poorly next to Codex. I asked it to find a flight from Montreal to Johannesburg. The only sign of life was the word "thinking," and I had to open the computer manually to see it on the Emirates website. Grok Bot would have gone to Google Flights, a better aggregator. A minute in, Dots still had not picked dates. In a normal Codex session, I would have had a short list by then. Dots vs Grok Bot vs Hermes vs Codex The winner depends on what you already run, and Dots does not win a single row. If you want a custom Jarvis, I built my own setup, so see my Grok Bot alternative and my ranking of the best AI personal assistant options. For the models underneath, read how GPT-6 Astra computer use really performs. Final Thoughts from Mark I am sure Dots will get better. Today it does not earn a place in my workflow. If you use Grok Bot, stay on Grok Bot. If you use Hermes, stay on Hermes. Wait for multiple Dots before you pay for anything. OpenAI Dots Review FAQs What is OpenAI Dots? OpenAI Dots is a personal assistant that runs 24/7 on GPT-6 Astra. It connects to Slack, offers live voice, and gets its own computer for computer use. In my testing it behaved like a dedicated Codex session with a chat interface rather than a new kind of product. Can you run multiple Dots at once? Not yet. At launch you can only use one Dot. It can spin up sub-agents, and I saw one named Zeno, but you cannot build a team of Dots. OpenAI announced it wants to support multiple Dots working together in the future. Is OpenAI Dots worth upgrading to the $100 plan? Not in my view. I would not move from the $20 plan to the $100 plan just for this feature. Codex already offers cloud runs, projects, a built-in browser, and faster computer use. If Dots comes with a plan you already pay for, it is fine to play with. How does OpenAI Dots compare to Grok Bot? Grok Bot lets you create a bot, state its goal, and tailor itself to that goal. You can also build group chats where several bots work together. Dots has none of that today, and it is missing many Grok Bot features even though the look and feel is similar.
Reported result
The test failed to produce usable flight options within a reasonable timeframe. Dots did not pick flight dates after one minute, whereas the author noted a standard Codex session would have provided a short list by then. The author explicitly stated they would not upgrade from the $20 to the $100 plan for this feature and recommended sticking with existing tools like Grok Bot or Hermes.
Human role
The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.
Limitations
Dots currently supports only one active instance and lacks proactive status updates, leaving users unsure if the agent is thinking or idle. Computer use is significantly slower than Codex, and service connections do not carry over from previous Codex setups. The review is a single-user anecdote from a secondary source, so performance may vary by account or region.
Try it
Act as a travel assistant using OpenAI Dots or Codex. My goal is to find flight options from [Origin City] to [Destination City] for [Date Range]. 1. Connect the agent to Slack or use the direct interface. 2. Prompt the agent to search for flights using [Preferred Airline or Aggregator]. 3. Monitor the agent's computer use activity for 60 seconds. 4. If no dates are selected, manually check the agent's browser view. 5. Do not book any flights. 6. Output a summary of the agent's performance, including time to first result and any errors. 7. Ask me for clarification if the destination or dates are ambiguous. Ensure I confirm the results before any further action.
Source reports are not independently verified. Publication date is the catalog publication date, not the original article date.