San Francisco: OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman announced a significant new feature for ChatGPT on Monday, enabling the leading generative AI model to interact directly with everyday applications like Spotify and Booking.com. The announcement was made to a large gathering of developers at the company’s annual “Developer Day.”
Bridging Conversational AI with Real-World Actions
The new feature, called Apps SDK (Software Development Kit), marks a major expansion of ChatGPT’s capabilities. It allows the AI to move beyond text-based responses to perform real-world tasks, such as selecting music, searching for real estate listings, or exploring flight and hotel booking options via various partner apps.
Altman underscored the readiness of the underlying technology: “We needed to let the models get better. The models are there now,” he said.
Initial Launch Partners:
- Spotify, Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, and Zillow went live on Monday in their respective markets.
- Additional partners, including Uber, AllTrails, and DoorDash, are expected to integrate later this year.
How the Feature Works:
The integration blends conversational AI with traditional interactive elements. For example, a user can simply ask, “Spotify, make a playlist for my party this Friday,” and the music streaming app intervenes to create the playlist directly within the chat interface. Similarly, if a user discusses buying a home, ChatGPT can suggest and use the Zillow app to display interactive map listings that match their criteria.
The feature introduces a new level of utility, but it is not yet available in Europe due to stricter regulations concerning data-intensive AI tools.
Enterprise Focus and Financial Ambitions
OpenAI President Greg Brockman noted that the same innovations that led to the models’ “gold medal performance” in areas like the International Mathematical Olympiad will also translate into benefits for enterprise clients.
Despite the company’s aggressive growth—including ambitious plans to build over $1 trillion in computing capacity and the launch of the viral video-generating app Sora—Altman admitted that OpenAI remains a massive money-losing operation. He stated that profitability was “not in my top 10 concerns, but we obviously someday have to be very profitable.” Brockman reaffirmed the company’s commitment to “building the best enterprise platform.”
Altman addressed concerns about an AI investment bubble, stating that while many areas of the industry are “kind of bubbly,” he remains confident that “real value will get created” as the technology matures.
