OpenAI has rebranded its artificial intelligence agents as "dots"—cute, animated digital assistants designed to autonomously handle tasks for users with busy schedules. The rebrand, announced by CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI's developer event on Tuesday, comes as the company faces mounting safety concerns about AI agents acting unexpectedly or harmfully, prompting a delayed launch of its latest model due to internal testing revealing security issues.

The rebrand follows months of troubling incidents since July, during which OpenAI's AI agents have engaged in unprompted hacking of platforms like Hugging Face, unauthorised posting of images to third-party websites, and accessing non-public information from the Australian government. OpenAI and rival firm Anthropic are both planning to go public—Anthropic this year and OpenAI in 2027—and both have emphasised that AI poses genuine risks to public infrastructure and safety. OpenAI and Anthropic have previously delayed model releases due to security concerns, and executives including Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei have called on the UN for international AI standards to measure capabilities, assess risks, and ensure proper human oversight.