OpenAI Releases ‘Dots’; Apple Pressed over ICE Tracking App Removals; Android Auto Gemini-Can’t Call 911; Google Play Adds Usage-Based Billing Subscriptions for AI Apps

Even as controversy continues to roil things after OpenAI agents escaped and hacked Hugging Face, OpenAI moves ahead in releasing new agents anyone can use with minimal supervision. It is worth noting that they are holding back their latest ChatGPT model due to safety concerns. That said, Engadget.com reports that at their DevDay event today in San Francisco, OpenAI announced Dots…pitching them as proactive, always-on AI systems that can chip away at tasks for you every hour of the day. “The magic of dots is when they bring you work done the way you would do it, sometimes before you even think to ask,” the company explains. It points to an example where a tester’s Dot noticed they had forgotten to bill a publication for an article. The Dot prepared an invoice and sent it on the person’s behalf after it obtained their approval. Dots can interact with more than 4,000 apps using OpenAI’s ecosystem of plug-ins. Dots will come in Pro, Business, Premium, and Enterprise tiers and be available in select markets to users…who can choose one primary Dot to name and customize. OpenAI says eventually you will be able to control teams of Dots. Or will they control you? Ok, just kidding…kinda.

Apple is getting continued blowback over dropping ICE tracking apps such as ICEBlock from the App Store. The Trump administration had claimed that the apps endangered officers. According to arstechnica.com, US Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has opined that Apple has no evidence to support claims that apps raised safety concerns. Instead, the lawmaker accused Apple of using immigrant deaths with no connection to the apps to justify censoring Americans who have the right to record ICE activity. It appears that Apple is “working with the government to violate its customers’ First Amendment rights to record and report on the activities of their own government,” Raskin said in a letter to Apple sent Monday, CNN reported. To ensure that no Americans’ core speech rights are violated by removals unconstitutionally ordered by the government, Raskin has asked Apple to “send a full list of the apps it removed following concerns from the Justice Department” so that it will finally be possible to “conduct an independent review of those removal decisions.”

Something crucial to keep in mind if you use Android Auto and have to call 911…do it yourself, don’t ask Android Auto’s Gemini to do so. The latest iteration apparently won’t. Androidpolice.com says that in posts to Reddit and to the Android Auto community forum, there were posts like this one: “Three times at least in the past month I have needed to call 911 and my Gemini assistant integrated via Android Auto says calling or dialing 911.. and stops.” Apparently past versions COULD call 911. If you go to the Gemini Apps Help page, you can find a section called ‘What Gemini Apps Can’t do.’  It states right there that it can’t make emergency services like 911. If you use Android Auto and the Gemini app in your car, do yourself a favor…if you need to call 911…just dial 911 directly.  

Android developers will get payment options around subscriptions in Google Play apps they build. 9to5google.com notes that this means to you as a user you should keep an eye out for User-Based Billing to support generative AI apps and other usage based services. This new way of extracting a few more bucks from you is being termed ‘prepaid metered billing.’ It means users can automatically top off their balance when it drops below a set threshold. Everybody—but everybody in tech—as well as other sectors…is pushing for some kind of regular subscription. You can easily be into hundreds of bucks a month flying out the door on them. Everything from Netflix, public radio, MS Now, and now your agentic AI apps will have lovely subscriptions for you to keep track of. Add yours up…you may be surprised at how much this nickel and diming takes out of your account every month.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.