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The October 13–15 conference will host a conversation about agents that work beyond a chat. The session’s start time and livestream details are not provided in the announcement.
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At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, OpenAI Dots product lead Alexander Embiricos is scheduled to explain the company’s approach to personal agents in a session titled “What Comes After the Chatbot?” The discussion follows Dots’ September 29 launch: these cloud-based agents can work across more than 4,000 connected apps, while users retain controls over permissions, approvals and activity. The session may clarify how OpenAI intends to balance delegation with trust, but TechCrunch has not specified its date or start time within the October 13–15 conference.
Dots’ background research uses read-only tools and cannot send messages, alter app content, or control a browser or computer.
Users can set action rules, monitor and redirect work in Activity View, and must handle some sensitive tasks, such as password changes.
OpenAI warns that Dots can make mistakes and recommends reviewing consequential work; its safeguards are not a guarantee of error-free operation.
TechCrunch Disrupt runs October 13–15, 2026, at Moscone West in San Francisco, with OpenAI’s Alexander Embiricos scheduled to discuss AI that keeps working beyond a conversation. TechCrunch’s October 7 announcement names the Dots product lead’s AI Stage session, but provides no session start time, timezone or official watch link. Privacy and trust are on the agenda.
Embiricos will sit down with TechCrunch for “What Comes After the Chatbot?” The confirmed program covers the thinking behind Dots, where OpenAI believes personal agents are headed, and why privacy and trust could determine whether people adopt them. It is a scheduled discussion of the product and its direction, rather than an announced new release.
The session is one part of a larger conference: TechCrunch says Disrupt will have more than 200 sessions across six industry stages, roundtables and breakouts. The October 13–15 dates describe the conference as a whole; the speaker announcement does not specify which day Embiricos will appear. It directs prospective attendees to register for the in-person event.
Dots is already a product announcement, not a rumor about Disrupt. OpenAI introduced it on September 29, 2026. The company describes Dots as always-on agents with their own cloud computers that can work toward goals around the clock. It says they connect to more than 4,000 apps through its plugin ecosystem, giving them access to tools beyond the chat itself.
OpenAI says users can inspect an agent’s cloud computer and choose whether to connect their own laptop. Users can also reach Dots through ChatGPT, Slack and Teams. Those capabilities explain the session’s focus on delegation: the product is designed to carry work across connected tools, rather than only return an answer to a prompt.
The existing design gives the privacy-and-trust discussion concrete ground. OpenAI says users choose which apps Dots can access. Custom Rules let them allow particular actions, require approval or block them, while built-in safety requirements continue to apply. An Activity View lets users follow work, including background activity, and redirect the agent.
OpenAI also says an automated review checks actions that could affect accounts or share information against instructions, user rules and safety requirements. Some sensitive tasks, including password changes, remain with the user. The company warns that Dots can still make mistakes and tells users to review consequential work. These are OpenAI’s stated safeguards, not a guarantee of error-free operation.
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