Kevin Zhang

🤖 | research scientist @OpenAI ex @GoogleDeepMind
views are my own.

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

.

[Chao Qiao @ChaoQiao42]

a lot has changed since I named Dots. Not quite the journey I imagined.

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

The feedback so far is overwhelmingly positive, but please don't hesitate to flag any issues you run into!

[Victor E. Nunez @victornunez]

we launched 2 cool updates today

1. ChatGPT gift cards: use them toward subscriptions and usage credits on ChatGPT web. US only for now.

2. Voice in the desktop app now costs ~60% less, so you get 2.4x as much usage as before.

just another monday ✅

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

A year ago, I was sitting in the audience at Cowell Theater, wondering if I’d ever make it to OpenAI.

Today, I was standing on that same stage.

Massive thank you to everyone who made DevDay such an incredible experience.

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

My wife rocking the new @OpenAI DevDay merch 🔥

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

so what's everyone calling their dot?😎

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

The smart takeaway is that the system didn't break because the tech failed; it broke because the demand to see autonomous agents in action completely overwhelmed the gates. Real innovation is messy, and hitting a ceiling this early just shows how high the ceiling actually is.

[Alexander Embiricos @embirico]

Re our demo today:

1. Bummed you didn’t see the full thing. Team put a ton of work in and it’s so good

2. Don’t launch 20 new features during live demos. Learned that the hard way

3. Holly handled the outage so incredibly well

So… should we redo the demo later this week?

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

Most people don't realize that if a physical object can connect to the internet and be controlled digitally, frontier AI models will eventually be able to operate it.

[Gio Huh @giohuh_]

What can Astra do when given a humanoid embodiment?

We built HomeBody to find out. Controlled by GPT Astra, it carries out long-horizon tasks in a previously unseen kitchen—from tidying up across the room to retrieving remembered objects from ambiguous requests—without environment-specific training data or additional policy learning.

Here's how we did it 👀: https://t.co/FFGS2F7VtI

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

Also remember:
- No surprise overage fees: Since they never stop answering when usage limits are hit, your team won't suddenly rack up unexpected bills mid-month.

[Alexander Embiricos @embirico]

Who has questions about how we're pricing dots? Happy to answer.

I'll start by clearing some stuff up:
1. Dots are included in your Pro or Business Premium plan at no extra cost
2. Your dots are available 24/7. They don't stop answering because you consumed all your usage.
3. Your plan includes an allowance for deeper work. (This limit is very high for the next month as we dial things in.)
4. In the future you'll be able to add more dots, and/or scale your dots' output by increasing their speed or work allowance.

This is pretty different from Codex pricing, and I think it's the future. All very new so we clearly have some work to do to explain it. Feedback welcome.

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

remember if you are using dot for your corporate needs, your permissions dictate its safety. Custom approval rules ensure your background agents can flag problems and triaging data without ever overriding human oversight.

[Gabriel Chua @gabrielchua]

I worked on the dots live demo.

Holly did a phenomenal job on stage today. If you’ve ever been there, you know the pressure is immense. She handled the recovery SO well.

I flew to SF from Singapore for my 4th DevDay (and first an OAI employee). It’s been a joy to get a small glimpse of what the dots team has been cooking.

Truth be told, I was slightly skeptical of using dots when it was first introduced. I was already really comfortable using Codex and setting up plenty of automations. I wasn’t sure how much more I’d get out of it.

But a few personal examples that I can share publicly changed my mind.

1. En route to SF last week, my rideshare cancelled on me. There was the generic automated refund email. My dot immediately picked it up, knew I had a flight, and asked if I was okay.

2. During this trip, after days of DevDay prep, I woke up and told it, “Fuck my life, I’m so tired - what’s on my cal today.” It walked me through my day, then added one last thing: “Please take some time to eat and drink. Take one step at a time - you got it”. Alone in a hotel room, that felt really reassuring.

3. On the building side, I’ve been using dot to spawn Codex threads that use CUA and ultrafast, and to proactively scan PRs for changes that might affect the demo. It’s been useful for getting work done, and increasingly insightful and high-signal in ways I hadn’t expected. I could delegate more confidently without repeating the same context for the umpteenth time.

4. Even this post came together with my dot, as I spoke to it throughout the day to investigate what happened and emotionally process it.

Hope you give it a shot and see what I mean :)

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

The transition from 'tool' to 'co-thinker' happens exactly at this threshold.

[Sam Altman @sama]

Ultrafast is

so fast

I do not ever want to go back

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

This is actually insane. Last night while I was asleep, my Dot was working on a surprise for me.

I woke up to see that, completely on its own without any hints or ideas from me, it came up with the concept for VulcanBench Decision Lab and just went ahead and built it.

Look:

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

Busra has been working so hard on this! We're all going to love dots 🥳

[Busra Demirci @cmd_shiftbusra]

so excited my first major project launched today, hope you all love dots ♥

[Busra Demirci @cmd_shiftbusra]

so excited my first major project launched today, hope you all love dots ♥

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

opus 5.5 is a miracle.

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

Unprecedented demand is a good problem to have, but infrastructure strain is real

[Tibo @thsottiaux]

Demand for Astra is really unprecedented. We're pulling all the levers possible to sustain the demand, but I've not seen anything like it until now and we went through very steep growth before. Priority will always be to keep excellent service for existing users, but we might have to pause new Pro subscriptions for a bit if this continues.

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

I want one!

[thijs @cdngdev]

i gave astra a robot, a paint brush, and a camera then asked it to paint the golden gate bridge in real life!

it figured out how to control the robot, and progressively got better throughout its attempts. the timelapse is sick

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

@cactuscon? Join Networked Live, @calibersecurity and Mission Infosec the last Wednesday of each month for our infosec happy hour in Scottsdale!

Register here - https://t.co/uZHLsgM5vk

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

@hwolpoff It's down. :-(

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

Check out "Networked Live's Business Networking Mixer - Eastside" https://t.co/eFsJcJWYiT @Eventbrite

[Kevin Zhang @Kevin_ZhangX]

Get 70% off your General Admission or VIP ticket for the Accelerate: Business Growth Summit on Sept. 30th in Scottsdale, AZ. https://t.co/kh0aFzThcl