“Chat is dead”: OpenAI plans to replace ChatGPT

Its establishment has increased competition with Anthropic, whose Claude Code product has emerged as one of the fastest growing businesses.

“About a year ago, OpenAI’s strategy was on the fence, while Anthropic’s strategy is just starting to make money,” said Jenny Xiao, a partner at Leonis Capital and a former researcher at OpenAI.

“Now the two are changing, because they are both trying to have an IPO and investors care more about money than dreams.”

To encourage users to use these services, OpenAI is redesigning ChatGPT’s interface, adding new features that direct users to writing tools, image creation and apps developed by partners such as Canva and Booking.com, according to people familiar with the plans.

In the long run, OpenAI wants to leave the content in question with its features, betting that its models can understand the intentions of users when they are on an app or website.

This year, the company has brought ChatGPT, Codex and other sales groups under a single leadership team led by Sottiaux, while several senior executives, including former head of product Kevin Weil, have left.

As a sign of OpenAI’s push to win over more business customers, some consumer-focused features have been discontinued, including an opt-out feature that allows for purchases within ChatGPT. It also shut down Sora, its video production tool, less than a year after its launch.

Leaders believe that users will interact more with a single AI assistant rather than a combination of different applications. As agents become more capable, OpenAI expects the distinction between chatbots, writing tools, search engines and other categories of software to blur.

“When we have (artificial intelligence), I don’t think there will be many different models,” said Alex Embiricos, chief business officer of OpenAI. “Maybe there will be one group I can talk to that will do whatever I want.”

© 2026 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.