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OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Work, a new mode inside ChatGPT that accepts long-horizon tasks, breaks them into steps, executes them across connected apps, and produces finished materials — slides, sheets, docs, and web apps — without constant user supervision. Starting today, the Codex standalone app is merging into the ChatGPT desktop application, ending the split between OpenAI’s coding agent and its general-purpose product.

The move is powered by GPT-5.6, which began rolling out publicly on the same day after clearing the Trump administration’s mandatory pre-release review.

What ChatGPT Work Does

ChatGPT Work connects to enterprise software stacks via plugins: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, SharePoint, email, calendars, CRMs, project trackers, and custom internal tools. Users grant access once; the model decides when to pull from each source based on what the task requires. Typing ”@” followed by an app name directs it explicitly.

The system supports Scheduled Tasks, which allow workflows to run in the background without the user present. An example from OpenAI’s internal use: ChatGPT Work monitors new messages in Teams and Slack, turns them into updated slides, and surfaces important changes to the right people.

Nearly 100% of OpenAI’s internal teams, including finance and sales, use ChatGPT Work and Codex today. In sales, the system reportedly turned a discovery call into a tailored proof of concept within 24 hours — a process that normally takes weeks. In finance, it cut month-end close and forecasting from days to hours.

The Codex Merger

The Codex desktop app is being retired as a separate product and folded into ChatGPT desktop. Codex functionality remains intact and gains several new capabilities with the merge:

• Inline editing within diffs
• Pull request review in a side panel
• Support for multiple repositories in a single project
• Faster computer use, powered by GPT-5.6

More than 5 million people use Codex weekly. Of those, over 1 million use it for work outside software development — a signal that the tool’s positioning as a coding agent understated its actual use. OpenAI is explicitly reframing it as a general work agent with strong coding capabilities, not a developer-only tool.

Availability

ChatGPT Work is rolling out today on web and mobile for Pro, Enterprise, and Edu subscribers. Plus and Business subscribers will receive access over the next several days. The ChatGPT desktop app — which includes Chat, Work, and the merged Codex — is available on all plans including Free, on both Windows and Mac.

The desktop app also gains a built-in browser for web-based tasks, letting it pull in online content without switching to an external window.

The Strategic Context

OpenAI is making a single unified application the center of its enterprise and professional AI strategy. The architecture is straightforward: one app, one subscription, one interface for both long-horizon knowledge work and technical development. The separation between “coding agent” and “AI assistant” is gone.

This is a direct response to the product structure at Anthropic — which runs Claude Cowork and Claude Code as distinct products — and to Microsoft, which has bundled Copilot into Office with variable results. OpenAI is betting that a single interface running a frontier model is simpler to sell, support, and iterate on than a suite of specialised tools.

The practical pressure on Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and similar coding-first products is real. Those products compete on model quality and developer ergonomics. ChatGPT Work competes on breadth — one tool that handles the entire task from customer conversation to finished deliverable, with coding as one capability among several.