Silk vs ChatGPT Dots: an always-on agent in the cloud, or on your own computer

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Dots made “always-on agent” a household phrase. You give a dot a goal, it works on a computer in OpenAI’s cloud, and it keeps going after you leave.

Silk does the same kind of job on a different computer: yours. It’s an AI agent for Mac and Windows that takes work in plain words, runs it in the background and on a schedule, and leaves the finished file in your folder. It uses the apps you have installed and the accounts you’re already signed in to.

That one difference, a cloud computer or your own, decides most of what follows.

Where the agent lives

A dot has its own cloud computer and browser. That’s why it can keep going with your laptop shut. It’s also why it starts out as a stranger to your setup. It can’t see your folders, your desktop apps or the dozens of sites you’re logged in to. It reaches your tools through plugins, or by signing in again on its own machine.

Silk starts inside your setup. Ask it to “fix the meta descriptions on the six service pages” and it opens your WordPress, already logged in as you. Ask for “a competitor report as a PDF” and the PDF lands in your Work folder. Nothing gets downloaded and moved around afterwards, because it was never anywhere else.

What people actually hand to an always-on agent

We looked at 60 days of Silk usage, from 4 September to 3 November 2026. Silk users started 9,662 tasks. A typical successful task took 58 seconds and cost about a third of a cent in AI fees. The jobs that grew fastest are the same ones ChatGPT Dots is pitched at:

• A chief of staff on a schedule. 22 Silk users set up 215 recurring jobs that fired 2,436 times: morning briefings, nightly recaps, inbox triage. 91% were set up just by asking in plain words.
• Research reports. Research is the most common job, run by 61 users in 30 days with an 86% success rate. People ask for a polished competitor report as a PDF, for example.
• Work inside business apps. WordPress SEO fixes, Shopify product pages and GoHighLevel tasks are the longest jobs people hand off, at around 20 minutes each.

That last group is where working on your own computer counts most. Those jobs happen in admin screens you’re already logged in to. Read 10 ways people use Silk for the full breakdown.

Price and availability

This is where the two are furthest apart.

• ChatGPT Dots come with ChatGPT Pro, which starts at 100 US dollars a month, or with Business Premium. They aren’t in Free, Go or Plus. At launch, Pro access excluded the EEA, the UK and Switzerland. You get one dot per account for now.
• Silk Premium is 9 US dollars a month, the first day is free, and one plan covers up to three computers. It runs on the ChatGPT plan you already have, Plus included, or on your Claude Pro or Max plan, so the AI usage is already paid for. It’s sold worldwide.

Things Silk does that a cloud agent can’t

• It shows you, on your screen. In Guide mode you ask “where’s the export setting?” and Silk points at the button, circles it and tells you out loud. A cloud agent can’t see your screen.
• It uses your desktop apps. Mac Mail, Excel, Finder, Keynote, local design tools, not just websites.
• It learns by watching. Do a task once while Silk records, and it becomes a skill you can replay, schedule or trigger from your phone.
• Your files stay on your machine. Silk reads and writes your folders directly. Nothing is copied to someone else’s computer for the agent to work on.

When ChatGPT Dots is the better pick

Being straight about it:

• You need it running with your laptop closed. Silk runs on your computer, so the computer has to be on. (If you have a desktop or a Mac mini that stays on, that covers most of it.)
• You live in Slack or Microsoft Teams and want the agent to work there.
• You already pay for ChatGPT Pro, so a dot costs you nothing extra.
• Your work is mostly web apps that have ChatGPT plugins.

When Silk is the better pick

• The work happens in your own apps, admin screens and folders.
• You want any model: your ChatGPT plan, your Claude plan, or Gemini, DeepSeek and hundreds more through OpenRouter.
• You’re in the UK or EU, or anywhere Dots isn’t sold.
• You’d rather pay 9 US dollars a month than 100.
• You want an agent that can teach you software as well as run it.

The bottom line

ChatGPT Dots is an always-on agent on OpenAI’s computer. Silk is an always-on agent on yours. If your work lives in your own apps, files and logins, that’s where the agent should be.

Start with what Silk is and everything it does, or see how it compares with the rest of the field in the best always-on AI agents of 2026.