OpenAI now lets teams make custom bots that can do work on their own

OpenAI is rolling out a significant new feature called 'workspace agents' for its organizational customers, including Business, Enterprise, Edu, and Teachers plans. These are cloud-based AI agents accessible within ChatGPT that can autonomously execute business tasks. OpenAI provides concrete examples, such as an agent that scours the web for product feedback and automatically compiles a report into a Slack channel, and a sales agent that can draft follow-up emails directly within Gmail. The agents are designed to gather context, follow team processes, request approvals when necessary, and keep workflows moving across different software tools.

This move places OpenAI in direct competition with other AI agent platforms, notably Anthropic's Claude Cowork agent, which performs tasks using files from a user's computer. The launch follows viral interest in autonomous AI agents, exemplified by OpenClaw, whose founder now works at OpenAI. Internally, these workspace agents represent the planned evolution of OpenAI's older 'GPTs'—custom chatbots introduced in 2023. The company states GPTs will remain available during a transition period and will soon offer tools to easily convert existing GPTs into the new, more capable workspace agents. This shift underscores a strategic pivot towards creating shared, team-oriented AI that can act independently within defined workflows.