OpenAI Announces ChatGPT Work, an AI Agent for Business Tasks

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Work, an AI agent that autonomously performs workplace tasks. This is a new feature built into ChatGPT that can automatically execute complex work across multiple steps by integrating with various applications such as email, calendar, Slack, and code repositories. It represents the company's most explicit attempt to transform ChatGPT from a tool that simply answers questions into a platform that handles work itself.

ChatGPT Work is built on OpenAI's latest model, GPT-5.6. It collects context from connected apps, files, and workflows to produce finished deliverables such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, and websites. When a user specifies a goal they want to achieve, the system breaks it down into small steps and continues processing over several hours, designed to complete independently.

The technological core of this feature is a cloud-based virtual machine that runs continuously on OpenAI's servers. A distinctive feature is that it can be used even when a local device is not powered on, allowing users to always access the same environment regardless of which device they are using. Ty Geri, a product manager at OpenAI, stated: "It is a virtual machine that is always on in the cloud and can be used with all paid plans. It is a very unique point that all Plus users are eligible." He also described mobile compatibility, which allows users to create and share websites from smartphones, as "a feature that was missing in the market."

The rollout of ChatGPT Work will begin with Pro plan and Enterprise plan users and expand sequentially. Geri noted that the feature aims to deliver the capabilities of agent-based AI demonstrated in OpenAI's internal coding tool Codex to a broader user base. According to him, internal Codex adoption has shown "exponential growth across all product features and all use cases."

This announcement coincides with a significant shift in OpenAI's financial situation. The company submitted a draft of registration documents (S-1) for an initial public offering (IPO) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month on a confidential basis. According to press reports, the company's valuation is estimated at 730 billion to 852 billion dollars, and its annual revenue is said to exceed 25 billion dollars. The timing of the ChatGPT Work announcement, which demonstrates the product's competitiveness and profitability, can be seen as having strategic significance in the context of IPO preparations.

The concept of AI agents has been spreading rapidly in recent years, and the ability to autonomously perform work while coordinating multiple tools has become a competitive area among many AI companies. OpenAI's choice of a cloud-always-on architecture appears to be a decision to position continuous task processing regardless of device as a key differentiator. However, given the nature of the feature involving access to business data such as email and calendar, corporate decisions regarding privacy protection and data management could determine future adoption. How ChatGPT Work becomes integrated into workplace workflows and actual adoption rates will be closely watched.