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

Source: The Verge

OpenAI is giving users of its Business, Enterprise, Edu, and Teachers plans access to cloud‑based “workspace” agents available in ChatGPT that can perform business tasks. In its blog post, OpenAI showcases agents such as one that finds product feedback on the web and sends a report to Slack, and a sales agent that drafts follow‑up emails in Gmail.

Background and related AI agents

These new agents arrive amid growing interest in AI agents across the industry. OpenClaw — the AI agent formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot that touts itself as the “AI that actually does things” — went viral. Its founder, Peter Steinberger, now works for OpenAI.

OpenAI also faces competition from Anthropic, which offers its own Claude Cowork agent that can complete tasks using files from your computer, as well as a separate platform for building autonomous agents (managed agents overview).

Features of workspace agents

• Shared within organizations – Teams can build an agent once, use it together in ChatGPT or Slack, and improve it over time.
• Context‑aware – Agents gather context from the right systems, follow team processes, ask for approval when needed, and keep work moving across tools.

OpenAI describes these agents as an “evolution” of its earlier GPTs—custom chatbots announced in 2023 (original Verge coverage). While GPTs will remain available, OpenAI plans to let teams “convert GPTs into workspace agents” in the near future.

Outlook

The introduction of workspace agents could signal a shift away from the standalone GPT custom bots toward more integrated, workflow‑focused AI assistants. When asked for comment, OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson referred to the blog post but did not provide additional details.