OpenAI previewed specialist Dots on September 29, 2026 and said it is working with Microsoft to put those company-owned agents under Agent 365 governance and security controls. OpenAI describes specialist Dots as a preview starting with focused enterprise pilots, and the Microsoft integration as work in progress. Agent 365, the control plane, has been generally available for commercial customers since May 1, 2026. Messaging a personal Dot in Teams is a separate contact method, covered in Dots in Slack and Microsoft Teams.

#What did OpenAI and Microsoft announce?

OpenAI's Introducing dots post, dated September 29, 2026, splits personal Dots from specialist Dots. A personal Dot works on your behalf. A specialist Dot takes a defined job inside a company. The company gives that Dot its own identity, credentials, and access to the systems it needs. OpenAI says it tested this internally in procurement, invoice processing, email marketing, customer support, and commercial contracting, and is starting with focused enterprise pilots. Its engineers will work with each organization on responsibilities, tools, and approvals.

OpenAI says it is working with Microsoft to integrate specialist Dots with Agent 365 governance and security controls. It describes management through existing Microsoft tools as the goal.

Microsoft's Agent 365 product page calls Agent 365 the control plane to observe, secure, and govern AI agents. It lists a registry in the Microsoft 365 admin center, plus Entra for identity, Defender for threats, Purview for data, and Intune for endpoints. Microsoft's May 1, 2026 security blog said Agent 365 became generally available that day for commercial customers, and announced previews for agents that run with their own credentials, shadow AI discovery, and Windows 365 for Agents.

Microsoft's documentation describes the general control plane and Frontier preview. Its May 1, 2026 security blog names ecosystem partner agents including Genspark and Zendesk. Its SDK overview lists integrations for the OpenAI Agents SDK, a developer framework. Those SDK packages should not be read as evidence that specialist Dots are available to deploy. The Dots integration is the work with Microsoft described in OpenAI's announcement.

#Who can try specialist Dots?

Specialist Dots are for organizations in OpenAI's focused enterprise pilots, not for anyone who can already create a personal Dot. How to get OpenAI Dots covers the personal rollout on Pro, Business Premium, and admin-enabled Enterprise.

Microsoft's generic own-identity agent preview sits in Frontier. These enrollment instructions concern Agent 365 preview features; they should not be presented as a way to join OpenAI's specialist Dot pilots. Microsoft Learn says a tenant needs at least one Microsoft E7 license, must join Frontier, and must agree to the Agent 365 terms of service. A global admin selects Try now on Agents > Overview, accepts the terms, and confirms 25 active licenses for Microsoft 365 Frontier for AI Teammates. Only a global admin can enable Agent 365 Frontier.

The onboard preview page requires a Microsoft Agent 365 Frontier subscription that it describes as 25 seats for hiring autonomous agents. An admin must approve a request before someone creates an agent. After provisioning, the agent reaches out in Teams chat and shows up in the organization chart under the creator. Microsoft says customers in the European Economic Area can get Agent 365 Frontier without Teams licenses. Frontier has no specific service-level agreement. Microsoft says it should not be used for product evaluations, and that Microsoft can remove Frontier feature support at any time.

#What do admins control?

Agent 365 is licensed per user. Microsoft's US product page lists standalone Agent 365 at USD $15.00 per user per month, paid yearly, with an annual commitment. The May 1, 2026 security blog uses the same standalone figure, USD15 per user per month, and says Agent 365 is also in Microsoft 365 E7. At that US list price, the annual commitment is USD $180 per user (USD $15 × 12 months = USD $180). Microsoft recommends a license for every user who interacts with, owns, manages, or sponsors Agent 365-managed agents. Microsoft Learn's overview says Agent 365 works best with Microsoft E5 as a prerequisite, and that at least one user needs a qualifying Agent 365 license to turn it on.

Admins work in the Microsoft 365 admin center for the registry and onboarding, Entra for identities, Defender for threats, Purview for data, and Intune for endpoints. The product page adds least-privilege control over users, data, and MCP servers, plus lifecycle rules that expire inactive agents, flag ownerless agents, or block risky ones.

For agents with their own identity, still in Frontier, admins approve the request, activate the template, and assign licenses and policies. Blocking pauses the agent. Deleting it is permanent. Associated resources remain for 30 days.

The Agent 365 SDK can attach Entra identity, observability, governed Work IQ tools, and notifications to an agent you already run, including agents built with the OpenAI Agents SDK. Agents that need their own user account and mailbox, and notifications that let an agent reply in Teams, Outlook, Word comments, or email like a person, are limited to Frontier tenants.

OpenAI's Enterprise admin guide for personal Dots is a different control set: Use dots (Beta), Slack, custom rules, and local computer access. See Dots privacy, security, and admin controls.

#How is this different from messaging a Dot in Teams?

Messaging a personal Dot in Teams is a contact method for the Dot you already created. OpenAI's Message your dot page says you connect Teams from the Dot's profile and reach the same Dot you use in ChatGPT. Switching channels does not reset its memory. The Enterprise admin guide says Microsoft Teams access is limited to an invite-only alpha. Setup is in Dots in Slack and Microsoft Teams.

A specialist Dot is a company-owned worker with its own identity. Microsoft's generic Frontier onboard flow describes an admin-approved agent that chats in Teams and sits on the organization chart. This illustrates Microsoft's own-identity model; it does not verify that a specialist Dot can already be provisioned through that flow.

#What is still preview-only?

Agent 365 as a commercial control plane has been generally available since May 1, 2026, on a per-user basis for the Commercial segment.

OpenAI's September 29, 2026 announcement previews specialist Dots, starts with enterprise pilots, and describes work to integrate them with Agent 365. Microsoft's current Frontier guide lists agents with their own identity and Shadow AI as preview features. OpenAI's Enterprise admin guide describes personal Dot access in Microsoft Teams as an invite-only alpha. Separately, Microsoft's May 1, 2026 announcement labeled team-workflow agents with their own access as public preview, and Windows 365 for Agents as public preview in the United States only. Those last two labels describe the May announcement, rather than establish their status on October 1, 2026.

Microsoft's May 1 table also marks some behind-the-scenes "own access" agents as generally available. That is Agent 365's own access model, not a statement that specialist Dots are generally available. Watch for a named Dots template in the Agent 365 registry, a named specialist-pilot customer, or a change to the Teams alpha language.