OpenAI's DevDay announcements on Tuesday pointed to a bigger plan than new models: turning ChatGPT itself into the place where software is discovered, launched, and used by people and AI agents alike. The chatbot, which now has 1.2 billion weekly users, is being transformed into an app distribution surface that challenges the traditional app store model.
ChatGPT will begin suggesting apps within the flow of conversation when it recognizes a tool could help complete a task. Users can connect the app and use it directly within ChatGPT, aided by an expanded plugin architecture that now supports interactive extensions — panels where users work with third-party tools while chatting.
A new "Sign in with ChatGPT" feature lets users bring their AI allowance to third-party apps. OpenAI has 16 launch partners including Cognition's Devin, Notion, and Vercel. Developers can build AI-native versions of their apps through ChatGPT, creating a distribution channel that becomes harder to ignore as discovery shifts toward AI chat.
The company also announced an enterprise app marketplace with 30-plus partners at launch including Adobe, Figma, Salesforce, and HubSpot. Meanwhile, OpenAI's autonomous agents — Dots — can navigate the web and use connected apps on the user's behalf, each running in its own cloud computer. The agents connect to an ecosystem of over 4,000 apps.