Big change at OpenAI: ChatGPT Work to be merged with Chat

OpenAI wants to make ChatGPT simpler to use. The company says it will begin testing a unified experience of the Chat and Work tabs with a small group of users in the coming weeks. User feedback will be used before the feature is rolled out more widely.

Today, ChatGPT has two separate surfaces, according to Startup Fortune. Chat is the fast mode for everyday questions. Work is the slower agent mode, where ChatGPT works independently on long tasks such as research and multistep coding jobs.

From idea to finished result

OpenAI writes that the merger makes it possible to go from exploring an idea to having ChatGPT carry it out, all in one place. Users can bring their files and plugins along and ask ChatGPT to, for example, build a website, create a presentation or complete tasks on the web. Along the way, users can follow and steer the work.

Codex, OpenAI's programming tool, will remain a separate experience in ChatGPT's desktop app.

Tibo Sottiaux, who leads ChatGPT and Codex at OpenAI, said in early October on Lenny Rachitsky's podcast that Chat and Work will be combined into a single experience. He gave no date and did not say what will happen to the model picker.

Shared quota from December

As part of the merger, the plan is for the usage quota on the Plus, Pro and Business plans to be shared between ChatGPT and Codex starting in December. OpenAI calls it part of the effort to bring Work into Chat.

OpenAI says unlimited use of Instant is included in the subscription and does not count against the quota.

The competitor is already on its way

Anthropic has begun rolling out the merger of Claude Cowork and the chat into a single Claude, so users do not have to choose where a task belongs. It is being rolled out over the coming weeks on Pro, Max and Ultra, with more plans to follow later.

The sources do not say when the unified ChatGPT will be available to everyone, or how many users are part of the test.

Read also

- ChatGPT and Codex to share the same usage quota from December - Shared usage cap in December raises concern among some OpenAI users - Claude combines Chat and Cowork and gets Docs and Slides