OpenAI is preparing the most significant overhaul of ChatGPT since its launch in 2022, as the $850bn company moves to reposition its flagship chatbot into a broader “superapp” designed to drive higher revenue and support its planned initial public offering this year. The changes are intended to expand ChatGPT beyond conversational use into a platform integrating coding tools, AI agents, and third-party applications, according to more than a dozen current and former employees.
The transformation forms part of a wider organisational shift at OpenAI as the San Francisco-based firm reallocates resources toward business customers and more profitable products. The company, which became the public face of the generative AI boom after launching ChatGPT, is now facing increased pressure to accelerate revenue growth and demonstrate a viable path to profitability ahead of its anticipated stock market debut. The strategic direction also reflects intensifying competition with rival AI developer Anthropic.
Under the planned overhaul, ChatGPT will be redesigned to place greater emphasis on tools such as coding systems and applications capable of performing tasks on behalf of users. The rollout, expected to begin in the coming weeks across the chatbot’s website and mobile apps, will introduce prompts and features directing users toward coding, image-generation tools, and external services including platforms such as Canva and Booking.com. OpenAI executives expect the system to evolve further, with fewer prompts over time as AI models become capable of interpreting user intent more autonomously.
A senior OpenAI employee described the shift in blunt terms, saying, “Chat is dead,” reflecting the company’s growing belief that traditional question-and-answer interfaces will be replaced by agent-based systems capable of completing complex workflows. According to internal discussions, OpenAI now views ChatGPT primarily as an entry point to more advanced, higher-value services rather than as its core product.
The company’s coding tool Codex is expected to play a central role in the new strategy. Codex, which can generate software from simple instructions, has grown rapidly, reaching more than five million weekly active users since the launch of a desktop application in February. People familiar with the matter said the majority of its users are paying customers. OpenAI’s 2 million business clients currently account for around 40 percent of revenue, a figure the company expects could rise to 50 percent by the end of the year. Codex’s expansion has also sharpened competition with Anthropic, whose Claude Code product has become one of its fastest-growing offerings. Jenny Xiao, partner at Leonis Capital and former OpenAI researcher, said the two companies’ strategies are converging as they both prepare for public listings, adding that investors are increasingly focused on revenue rather than long-term ambition.
Internally, OpenAI has consolidated its product teams under a single leadership structure headed by Thibault Sottiaux, who previously led Codex and now oversees core product and platform development. Several senior executives, including former product chief Kevin Weil, have departed during the restructuring. At the same time, some consumer-focused initiatives have been scaled back, including a checkout feature for in-app purchases, while the company shut down its Sora video-generation product less than a year after launch.
Executives said the long-term aim is for users to interact with a single AI assistant capable of managing multiple aspects of work and personal life across devices. “Probably there will be a single entity that I can talk to that can do whatever I need,” said Alex Embiricos, OpenAI’s head of enterprise product, describing a future in which distinctions between chatbots, coding tools, and other software categories gradually disappear.
