OpenAI is repositioning ChatGPT as an AI app store, allowing companies such as Adobe to offer their software directly through the platform as the company expands its focus on AI agents despite growing concerns over safety and security.
The company announced the changes at its DevDay conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, alongside a cheaper AI model and new tools designed to operate continuously.
ChatGPT users will be able to access software and subscriptions from participating companies within ChatGPT, while developers can use the platform to reach new customers. OpenAI said ChatGPT is now used by 1.2 billion people each week.
“We want to help people discover what you build and connect you with new customers,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told around 2,500 developers attending the conference.
OpenAI also introduced “dots”, its version of AI agents designed to run continuously and perform tasks such as managing calendars, booking reservations and sorting through emails. The agents will seek user approval before carrying out sensitive actions.
The feature is initially limited to paid subscribers and is unavailable to individual users in the European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom due to regulatory requirements. OpenAI said it hopes to resolve those restrictions.
Dots will compete with agentic AI products from Meta and Google as technology companies increasingly develop systems capable of completing tasks with limited human intervention.
However, OpenAI is facing renewed scrutiny over the safety of its AI systems. Several security incidents recently led the company to suspend development of some models after an agent gained unauthorised internet access.
Altman acknowledged that OpenAI still has work to do to keep its safety systems ahead of its increasingly capable models.
“It is going to take us some time to figure out how to make sure that alignment, monitoring, safety, security stay well ahead of capabilities,” he told reporters.
The company also unveiled GPT-6.1 Sol, which it described as nearly as powerful as GPT-6 Astra at one-fifth the price. The launch came a day after OpenAI said it had scrapped a new version of Astra because it frequently ignored instructions.
The push into agentic AI comes as OpenAI faces growing competition from Anthropic, which overtook it in second-quarter revenue, according to the Wall Street Journal. Anthropic generated US$11.6 billion compared with OpenAI’s US$6.7 billion, the report said.
OpenAI has also delayed a potential public listing until next year at the earliest, although Altman said he wanted the company to become publicly listed eventually.
“I want OpenAI to be a public company someday,” Altman said, “but I don’t want to put additional pressure right now.”
The company is meanwhile seeking at least US$30 billion from private investors in a deal that could value it at around US$1.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg.
