Sam Altman says DOTS messaging is too conservative, while warning of overuse

The possibility of AI agents messaging users first raises a risk of excessive notifications, Sam Altman said. He warned that companies could misuse frequent pings to drive engagement and expected some to get it wrong; he said OpenAI would try hard to avoid that.

Altman said his own experience with DOTS makes him want more messages, describing its current setting as too conservative. He also said the messages he has received so far have been things he wants, while acknowledging that proactive messaging could go wrong and that the right approach still needs to be worked out. A missed important email was offered as an example of when a user might wish for a reminder.