OpenAI is gearing up to reinvent ChatGPT, the popular AI chatbot, into an “AI super assistant” that knows the user and acts as their main gateway to the internet.
The Microsoft-backed AI startup’s plans regarding the future of ChatGPT was disclosed in an internal strategy document that was shared as part of the legal discovery process in the Google search antitrust case filed by the US Department of Justice.
The document titled “ChatGPT: H1 2025 Strategy” is from 2024 and is heavily redacted. It shows that OpenAI is planning to develop an “AI super assistant that deeply understands you and is your interface to the internet,” according to a report by The Verge.
“Today, ChatGPT is in our lives through existing form factors — our website, phone, and desktop apps. But our vision for ChatGPT is to help you with all of your life, no matter where you are. At home, it should help answer questions, play music, and suggest recipes. On the go, it should help you get to places, find the best restaurants, or catch up with friends. At work, it should help you take meeting notes, or prepare for the big presentation. And on solo walks, it should help you reflect and wind down,” the document reads.
The unredacted parts of the document reportedly suggest that OpenAI intends to transform ChatGPT from an AI tool into a companion. It also indicates that the company believes hardware will play a critical role in the broader vision for ChatGPT.
OpenAI has been quite serious about developing an AI-powered gadget for several years now, despite the struggles and failures of others in the space. Last week, the company announced it was acquiring former Apple executive Jony Ive’s AI devices startup, io, for $6.4 billion in an all-equity deal.
What else does the document say?
“In the first half of next year, we’ll start evolving ChatGPT into a super-assistant: one that knows you, understands what you care about, and helps with any task that a smart, trustworthy, emotionally intelligent person with a computer could do,” the document reads.
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“The timing is right. Models like 02 and 03 are finally smart enough to reliably perform agentic tasks, tools like computer use can boost ChatGPT’s ability to take action, and interaction paradigms like multimodality and generative UI allow both ChatGPT and users to express themselves in the best way for the task,” it adds.
According to OpenAI, an AI super assistant is “an intelligent entity with T-shaped skills” for both widely applicable and niche tasks such as coding. “The broad part is all about making life easier: answering a question, finding a home, contacting a lawyer, joining a gym, planning vacations, buying gifts, managing calendars, keeping track of todos, sending emails,” the document states.
OpenAI has also acknowledged that there are “powerful incumbents who will leverage their distribution to advantage their own products.” It states that the company will support regulation that requires other platforms to allow users to select ChatGPT as their default assistant.
“We have what we need to win: one of the fastest-growing products of all time, a category-defining brand, a research lead (reasoning, multimodal), a compute lead, a world-class research team, and an increasing number of effective people with agency who are motivated to ship,” as per the document.
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“We don’t rely on ads, giving us flexibility on what to build. Our culture values speed, bold moves, and self-disruption. Maintaining these advantages is hard work but, if we do, they will last for a while,” it further states.
