ChatGPT is moving beyond answering workplace questions. OpenAI now wants it to plan projects, gather information, and produce finished work.
The company introduced ChatGPT Work, an AI agent built with Codex technology that can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, and web apps using connected workplace information. OpenAI is initially rolling it out to Pro, Enterprise, and Edu users as businesses increasingly look to automate multi-step administrative and knowledge-work tasks.
The new service is powered by GPT-5.6, OpenAI’s latest model. The company hopes this will improve multi-step reasoning and the ability to create polished materials from templates and reference files.
For IT leaders, the appeal is straightforward: less time collecting information and formatting deliverables. The harder question is how much access and autonomy companies should give an AI agent operating across email, calendars, cloud files, and other business systems.
Bringing AI into everyday business workflows
ChatGPT Work connects to workplace tools via plugins, allowing it to access information from platforms such as Slack, Google Drive, email systems, calendars, CRMs, and project management tools.
Once connected, the agent can retrieve information, create drafts, refine documents, and carry out longer-running tasks across supported tools. OpenAI said users can also assign recurring tasks through Scheduled Tasks, allowing ChatGPT Work to monitor updates and prepare reports or documents over time.
OpenAI highlighted internal use cases, noting that nearly 100% of its teams, including finance and sales, now use ChatGPT Work and Codex. The company said its sales team used the tool to transform customer discovery notes into a proof of concept within 24 hours, while its finance team reduced month-end close and forecasting processes from days to hours.
Competing in the AI agent race
The launch comes as major AI companies compete to build more capable workplace agents. ChatGPT Work arrives as OpenAI faces growing competition from Anthropic’s Claude Cowork, which can also plan and execute multi-step tasks autonomously.
The broader race is focused on enterprise customers, where AI companies see significant business opportunities. Unlike traditional chatbots that mainly respond to prompts, these new agents aim to complete workflows with limited supervision.
Why this matters for businesses and workers
ChatGPT Work represents a shift in how companies may use AI. Instead of relying on employees to ask questions and manually complete tasks, organizations can use AI agents to coordinate information, prepare materials, and automate repetitive processes.
The potential benefit is faster execution and reduced administrative workload for businesses. Teams could spend more time on decision-making and customer-facing activities rather than gathering information or formatting reports.
However, wider adoption will depend on how companies manage risks around data access, accuracy, and oversight. Because ChatGPT Work can interact with connected apps and files, organizations will need strong controls over permissions and sensitive information.
OpenAI said enterprise and education administrators can manage access, connected tools, and actions through existing security and compliance controls.
Availability
ChatGPT Work is rolling out first to Pro, Enterprise, and Edu users on web and mobile, with Plus and Business users gaining access in the following days. The updated ChatGPT desktop app is available globally on Mac and Windows, with Chat, Work, and Codex features available across all plans, including Free.
The rollout offers businesses another path to agent-driven work, but deployment decisions will depend on more than speed alone. IT leaders will need to determine where the agent saves meaningful time, which actions still require human approval, and how much company data it should be allowed to access.
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