OpenAI launched a cheaper artificial intelligence (AI) model alongside tools designed to run continuously on Tuesday, seeking to reposition its flagship ChatGPT service as an app store for AI.
The strategic shift will allow third-party companies, including Adobe, to offer their software directly within ChatGPT, which is now used weekly by 1.2 billion people, reports AFP.
Under the new system, users will also be able to access their existing subscriptions through other applications.
Addressing around 2,500 developers gathered on the shores of San Francisco Bay for the company’s annual conference, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said, “We want to help people discover what you build and connect you with new customers”.
New model and unaddressed security incidents
The newly unveiled model, GPT-6.1 Sol, is described as nearly as powerful as GPT-6 Astra at one-fifth of the price.
Its launch came a day after OpenAI revealed that it had scrapped a new version of Astra because it frequently ignored instructions.
However, Altman made no mention during his keynote speech of multiple security incidents that forced OpenAI to suspend development of certain models on Friday after an AI agent gained unauthorised access to the internet.
Speaking to reporters later, Altman acknowledged the challenges, saying, “It is going to take us some time to figure out how to make sure that alignment, monitoring, safety, security stay well ahead of capabilities”.
Agentic software and ‘dots’
Inside the venue, Altman rejected comparisons between the current AI era and the Industrial Revolution.
“I think we should learn from the mistakes of the Industrial Revolution, and I think we should be more like the Renaissance,” he said.
The new direction is closely tied to agentic software — programmes capable of automatically carrying out tasks such as managing calendars, booking reservations and sorting through email.
Attendees cheered the introduction of “dots”, OpenAI’s new continuous AI agents designed to ask users for approval before taking sensitive actions.
Available exclusively to paid subscribers, dots are not yet available to individual users in the European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom due to regulations. OpenAI hopes to resolve the issues.
Outside the conference, around 30 protesters gathered, chanting slogans such as “put people before profit” and demanding that OpenAI terminate its contracts with the US military and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Hardware competition and Anthropic rivalry
OpenAI’s agent technology enters a competitive landscape that includes Meta’s Muse and Google’s Spark agents.
Meta recently unveiled a small, Tamagotchi-like device powered by Muse that could ship by December.
While OpenAI is developing its own AI hardware, it provided no updates at the event. Altman said, however, that integrating dots into a device “seems like a very reasonable thing to assume we may do someday”.
OpenAI also faces mounting financial pressure from rivals.
According to The Wall Street Journal, rival Anthropic surpassed OpenAI in second-quarter revenue by focusing heavily on business clients, generating $11.6 billion compared with OpenAI’s $6.7 billion.
Anthropic’s annual recurring revenue is projected to reach $100 billion by the end of the year, while OpenAI reached $70 billion in July.
Wall Street debut and White House safeguards
While Anthropic is targeting a November debut on Wall Street, OpenAI has postponed its initial public offering until next year at the earliest.
“I want OpenAI to be a public company someday, but I don’t want to put additional pressure right now,” Altman said.
He added that investing heavily in safety and alignment would support long-term capability growth.
Despite delaying its public listing, OpenAI is seeking to raise at least $30 billion from private investors.
Bloomberg reported that the deal could raise the company’s valuation to around $1.4 trillion, up from $852 billion in March.
In a separate development on Tuesday, OpenAI President and Co-founder Greg Brockman attended an event at the White House, where US President Donald Trump announced that top AI executives had agreed to a “morally binding” commitment to incorporate safeguards into AI development.
