OpenAI’s latest features take direct aim at the app store model

At its Tuesday Dev Day event, OpenAI announced new features that disrupt the traditional app store model by turning ChatGPT into a surface for discovering, launching, and using software. Serving 1.2 billion weekly users, ChatGPT will now suggest relevant apps within conversational flows and introduce an expanded plugin architecture supporting interactive panels.

OpenAI launched with 16 partners, including Cognition’s Devin, Notion, and Vercel, and introduced an enterprise app marketplace featuring over 30 partners such as Adobe, Figma, Salesforce, and HubSpot. Additionally, the company introduced autonomous AI agents called Dots, which operate in their own cloud infrastructure with dedicated browsers and can connect to over 4,000 apps to execute tasks proactively.

OpenAI also revealed improvements to its plugin review process, a "Sign in with ChatGPT" identity feature enabling users to bring their AI allowance to third-party apps, and lightweight shared websites for collaborative work. OpenAI did not announce a billing or revenue-sharing system comparable to traditional app stores, and has not stated whether the new features eliminate separate third-party subscriptions.