OpenAI has signaled a dramatic shift in its product direction. A senior employee told the Financial Times that "chat is dead" as the company moves away from simple conversational answers toward autonomous agents that handle tasks independently. This change will drive the most significant overhaul of ChatGPT since its launch in 2022.
The Shift from Chat to Agents
The company plans to transform ChatGPT into a "superapp" that bundles coding tools, AI agents, and integrations with third-party services such as Canva and Booking. Chief product officer Thibault Sottiaux described the vision to the FT. "It will transcend the actual surface. What we're building towards is where you have your own personal agent that is capable of helping you across everything in your life, be it personally or at work," he said.
The Financial Times report drew on interviews with more than a dozen current and former OpenAI employees. OpenAI has already confirmed it is working on a super app concept.
Redesign and Integration Plans
In the coming weeks, OpenAI will redesign both the web and mobile interfaces of ChatGPT. The new interface will include features that push users toward coding, image generation, and partner apps. Over time, those nudges will fade as the models learn to anticipate what users need without explicit guidance.
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Internally, the company has merged its ChatGPT, Codex, and other product teams under Sottiaux's leadership. This restructuring aims to unify the development of agentic capabilities across the platform.
ChatGPT originally launched as a conversational AI assistant in November 2022, quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing consumer applications in history. OpenAI, founded in 2015, has since expanded its offerings to include image generation through DALL-E, code generation through Codex, and various API services for developers. The shift toward agents represents a continuation of the company's push into more proactive and autonomous AI systems.
The agent-based approach means ChatGPT will not just answer questions but will execute tasks across multiple domains, integrating with external services and handling complex workflows. Users might ask the assistant to book a trip, design a presentation, or write and run code, all within a single interface.
OpenAI's move reflects a broader industry trend toward AI agents that can operate with less direct human supervision. Other major AI companies have also announced plans for agentic systems, though OpenAI's scope and integration with existing consumer products give it a large potential user base.
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