OpenAI DevDay 2026: a cheaper Sol, Dots and Codex with your laptop closed

More than 20 announcements. Where do we start?

An AI conference can leave you with a list of new names and very little idea of what to do with them. OpenAI announced more than 20 things at DevDay in San Francisco on September 29, 2026. We picked the ones that could matter if you write code, produce content or work in a small team.

The short version: GPT-6.1 Sol offers lower prices and, according to OpenAI, approaches Astra on some tasks. Dots get a cloud computer of their own, and Codex can keep working after you close your laptop. Let’s take them one at a time. This article reflects information available on October 2, 2026.

Sol costs less. Will your task cost less too?

GPT-6.1 Sol is an update to GPT-6 Sol. OpenAI’s measurements put it close to Astra in coding, computer use and some professional tasks. Those are the maker’s results; your own project is where you find out how useful they are.

The API costs $2 per million input tokens, $10 per million output tokens and $0.10 per million cached input tokens. Tokens are the pieces of text a model processes. The input and output rates are one-fifth of Astra’s standard rates. Your total bill still depends on how much text the model processes, which tools it uses and how many revisions the job needs.

At launch, Sol is available through the API and in ChatGPT Work and Codex for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users. It is not in regular Chat. If you already use Codex, try a small change in a project you know well. It is easier to judge whether cheaper tokens come with an extra hour of checking the code.

Dots: give feedback without starting the assignment again

Dots are agents powered by GPT-6 Astra. They have a cloud computer and access to connected apps. OpenAI describes assistants that can keep working on a task over time and take feedback into account. The rollout covers Pro and Business Premium in supported markets; Enterprise, Edu and Healthcare administrators must enable the beta.

Picture our editorial team: a few sources to follow, a short daily list of story ideas and a link for each. An editor decides which ones deserve an article. A few days later, they add “skip mobile app updates” without writing the entire brief again. That is a use we would like to try with Dots. The quality of the stories they find would tell us whether it actually helps.

Codex Cloud: close the laptop, keep the task running

When a coding job takes a while, it would be nice to leave the desk without wondering whether closing the lid ends the work. Codex Cloud lets you start and continue tasks from a computer, browser or phone. Each task gets its own workspace, and processing can continue with your laptop closed.

You can prepare reusable environments with repositories, tools and dependencies. Your organization’s access settings still apply. For a blog like ours, finding broken links and preparing fixes would make a reasonable first assignment. We would want a list of URLs, the problem with each and the proposed change. For visual changes, we would ask for screenshots and a note on what was checked too.

Two APIs with different jobs

An API is how one program uses another service. The Agents API, first announced on September 10, now includes operating apps through their interfaces. Decisions API entered limited preview at DevDay. Its job is to choose an answer from a predefined set of allowed outcomes.

The first could help when you need something done inside an application. The second fits tasks such as sorting messages into “bug,” “question” and “suggestion.” We would add “unclear” as well: some messages simply do not give you enough to decide. Before you let those labels trigger further actions, compare a few dozen results with your own assessment.

Space and Pages: keep the sources with the draft

ChatGPT Space brings together team knowledge and work, while Pages let people and AI collaborate on documents. Collaborative slides were announced for the following weeks.

For our kind of work, imagine one page holding an article’s sources, draft, reviewer comments and publication decision. The next person does not have to ask where a number came from. A shared document cannot decide which version is current or who checked the facts, though. The team still needs to agree on that.

Pick one thing to try

If you build applications with models, start with Sol’s pricing and availability. If you spend a lot of time waiting for coding tasks, take a look at Codex Cloud. Dots sound more interesting for work that keeps coming back, such as finding stories or organizing material. You do not have to rebuild your whole working day to try one of them.

The official links are below. Check availability for your plan and account: some features are rolling out gradually. Start with something you can actually run on a task you understand.