OpenAI launches ChatGPT Work for complex tasks

ChatGPT is no longer limited to answering questions: OpenAI is launching ChatGPT Work, an agent that can use your apps and files, break long projects into steps, and deliver finished documents, spreadsheets, presentations, or web apps.

The tool is designed for work that cannot be completed in a single message. You can ask it to analyze a budget variance, turn research into a marketing plan, or prepare a sales meeting. ChatGPT Work gathers the information, moves forward on its own, and checks in when it needs a decision or approval.

From a request to a complete workflow

ChatGPT Work incorporates Codex technology, OpenAI’s agent originally focused on programming. According to the company, more than 5 million people use Codex every week, and more than 1 million already use it for tasks outside software development.

With this new version, a single assignment can cover several stages. For example, it can turn customer interviews into a report, turn that report into a campaign, and adapt the materials for different markets without losing context from one step to the next.

The system runs on GPT-5.6, OpenAI’s new model for multistep tasks and documents that must follow templates or draw on reference files. The company says that almost 100% of its internal teams, including finance and sales, already use ChatGPT Work and Codex.

In its first tests, OpenAI describes cases like these:

• A sales team turned a customer conversation into a customized proof of concept in 24 hours, a process that normally took weeks.
• A finance team cut month-end close and forecasting from several days to hours by gathering and reconciling data in Excel or Sheets, creating presentations, and checking the results.

Those results come from OpenAI’s internal tests, not a guarantee for every company.

It can keep working while you’re away

ChatGPT Work also includes Scheduled Tasks, which lets you run an action once, repeat it on a schedule, or trigger it when something happens. For example, it can review Slack messages each week and update a meeting agenda, check a dashboard every morning, or turn new customer feedback into prioritized product ideas.

To do this, it connects through plugins to services such as:

• Slack and Microsoft Teams
• Google Drive and SharePoint
• Email and calendars
• CRMs and project management tools

You decide what it can access, when it must ask for confirmation, and which actions require approval. You can also review its progress and change the instructions while the work continues.

Files, browser, and apps on your computer

The Windows and Mac desktop app includes an integrated browser for researching online, using web tools, and working with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 files from the same place.

In addition, the Computer Use feature lets ChatGPT click, type, and move files inside your apps, browser, and tools. This works for both a one-off task and a scheduled workflow that includes actions on your computer.

OpenAI is also introducing Sites, still in public beta. With this feature, you can turn an idea or a set of data into a website or interactive app, such as a dashboard, launch calendar, internal portal, or prototype, and share it through a URL.

The Codex app is now integrated into the new ChatGPT desktop app. Codex keeps its developer features, such as reviewing change requests and working across multiple repositories, while ChatGPT now also brings together general tasks.

Availability and controls

ChatGPT Work is beginning to roll out on web and mobile to Pro, Enterprise, and Edu plans. Plus and Business plans will receive it in the following days. On desktop, Chat, Work, and Codex are available on all plans, including the free plan, although longer tasks use more of the plan’s allowance.

For businesses and educational institutions, administrators can control access to plugins, files, the browser, the network, and sensitive actions. OpenAI also offers a compliance API for monitoring conversations and actions at scale.

The company says its automated review system blocked 100% of attempts to extract protected data during attack tests. That result comes from a test environment and does not remove the need to configure permissions and review important actions.

The relevant change is that ChatGPT is becoming less like a question-answering tool and more like an assistant that executes complete processes. What to watch now is how much time it saves on real work, what errors it makes when acting across multiple apps, and how much control people retain when a task continues without direct supervision.