OpenAI is making it easier for ChatGPT users to connect with third-party apps right inside the chatbot. This is part of the company’s plan to turn ChatGPT into a central hub for digital services.
With the new feature, unveiled on Monday at OpenAI’s annual developers event, you can ask ChatGPT to do things like create a weekend playlist, and it will connect with Spotify to make suggestions.
You can also search for a three-bedroom home in a certain neighborhood on Zillow without leaving ChatGPT. Other apps available include Figma, Expedia, and Booking.com. OpenAI calls this feature “talking to apps,” and users just need to sign in to the apps the first time.
“There’s an opportunity for builders to create entirely new applications that are even native to ChatGPT, and of course for services you love to be able to benefit there,” said OpenAI.
A Busy Time for OpenAI
The developers’ event capped off a hectic few weeks for OpenAI. The company completed a secondary share sale, making it the most valuable start-up in the world.
It also introduced several new products, including a social video app called Sora that quickly topped Apple’s App Store. On top of that, OpenAI announced big infrastructure deals with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and others to support wider use of its technology.
The announcement had a noticeable impact on the market. Companies like Figma, Expedia Group, and Booking Holdings saw their stocks jump after being mentioned during the event.
“This is a strange new thing that started happening,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a press briefing when asked about the market moves. “We are trying to figure out how to adjust for this kind of world, but it’s weird.”
Exciting Collaboration with Jony Ive
Legendary Apple designer Jony Ive also spoke at Monday’s event. Ive and Altman revealed they would be teaming up on a new AI hardware project, though details remain scarce.
Ive mentioned his team has come up with around 15 to 20 “really compelling product ideas,” but deciding which ones to move forward with has been tricky. “It would be easy if we knew there were three good ones,” he said. “It’s just not like that.”
ChatGPT’s Growing Popularity
OpenAI now has more than 800 million weekly ChatGPT users, Altman said. The service’s rapid growth is boosting OpenAI’s revenue. In September, CFO Sarah Friar said the company is on track to make $13 billion in revenue this year, up from $4 billion in 2024.
Even so, OpenAI is still not profitable due to billions in annual computing and research costs, not to mention recent spending on chips and data centers.
“Obviously, one day we have to be very profitable and we’re confident and patient that we will get there,” Altman said. “But right now, we’re in a phase of investment and growth.”
To help offset some of those costs, OpenAI is focusing on attracting businesses and developers.
AI Agents and New Tools
At Monday’s event, OpenAI also released a tool called AgentKit to help developers build AI agents. These are programs that can handle multiple tasks with little or no human input.
Altman said several companies, including Albertson’s, Box, and Canva, have already built agents with the tool. “Software used to take years or months to build,” he said. “It can take minutes now.”
OpenAI also announced smaller voice and image-generation models that are faster and cheaper to run. Its open models, with parameters freely available, have already been downloaded 23 million times on the platform Hugging Face.
ChatGPT Is Becoming More Than a Chatbot
Looking ahead, OpenAI expects ChatGPT to evolve into more of an operating system where users can access a variety of apps.
“We never meant to build a chatbot when we built ChatGPT,” said Nick Turley, who leads the ChatGPT team. “We set out to build a super assistant and we got a little sidetracked.”
ALSO READ: How To Transform Your Photos Using All AI Tools In Google Photos
