OpenAI's New AI Helper Costs $100 a Month — Meta's Is Free
Two AI assistants just went to war, and one of them is giving itself away.
OpenAI just announced its newest product: Dots, an AI assistant (software that can actually do tasks for you, not just chat) that shows up as a colorful blob with eyes. Think of it like a personal helper that lives on your screen. It can plan a team trip, build a website, rebalance your retirement portfolio, or run an email campaign — the kind of work you'd normally hand to an assistant or a freelancer. OpenAI calls it a "second brain" and compares it to having a chief of staff.
The problem is the price tag. Dots only works if you're on OpenAI's $100-a-month Pro plan. Meanwhile, Meta's similar helper, Muse, is completely free for anyone with a Meta account — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, whatever. That means of ChatGPT's roughly 1.2 billion users, only a small sliver can actually try Dots today. Altman admitted the tool "uses a lot of compute" (that means it's expensive to run) and said a cheaper version for everyone might come "someday."
Why is OpenAI charging when its rival isn't? Money. Running powerful AI is costly, and OpenAI reportedly plans to spend $280 billion by 2030. It's also trying to raise $30 billion from investors and eventually go public, which means showing a profit matters. Meta, by contrast, is a giant that can afford to lose money on AI to pull you into its apps — the same playbook it used to make Instagram and WhatsApp free.
So what do you actually get for $100? OpenAI promises "specialist" helpers trained in things like accounting and legal work, plus voice calls with your assistant, coming soon to Microsoft's work tools. But the live voice demo failed on stage at DevDay — a small reminder not to trust a demo over the real thing.
- OpenAI's new Dots assistant only works on the $100-a-month Pro plan, while Meta's Muse is free for anyone.
- Dots can do bigger jobs than older assistants — planning trips, designing sites, even portfolio work — but it costs a lot to run.
- OpenAI is under pressure to turn a profit before going public, so free-for-everyone may not happen soon.
Why It Matters
If you use an AI assistant daily, this fight is about whether you'll pay $100 a month or get one free instead.