Cloud computer
A remote machine an AI agent can use to run tools and applications for long tasks, so work continues without the user's own device. It removes one constraint and exposes others, like permissions and oversight.
A cloud computer is a remote computing environment that an AI agent can operate: a persistent machine with a browser, files and applications that keeps running when the user closes their laptop. Reports describe OpenAI Dots as working through one.
It solves a practical limit. An agent that needs the user's device or open session cannot really carry a goal over days. A cloud computer gives it an execution surface of its own, often used together with computer use when a clean integration does not exist.
What it exposes
The constraint it removes is "the agent needs me to be present". The ones it exposes are about control: which accounts the agent is logged into, what it can change, how its work is recorded and how it is stopped. Because capability is not authority, these need explicit rules.
Read more in OpenAI Dots is a test of whether AI can carry a goal, not just complete a task.
Related terms
Computer use
An AI agent operating software the way a person would — looking at screens, clicking and typing — which gives it an execution surface when cleaner integrations or APIs are unavailable.
OpenAI Dots
OpenAI's always-on assistant, described as continuing to work across applications between prompts. It is useful as a test case for persistent delegation: can AI carry a goal, not just complete a task?
Capability is not authority
A design principle for AI agents: being technically able to perform an action does not mean the agent should be permitted to perform it. Delegation needs gradients of authority.