OpenAI is taking ChatGPT to the next level — transforming it from a simple chatbot into a one-stop hub for digital services. During its annual developer event on Monday, the company unveiled a new feature that lets users connect ChatGPT directly with popular third-party apps such as Spotify, Zillow, Figma, Expedia, and Booking.com.
The update, called “talking to apps,” allows users to perform real-world tasks without ever leaving the ChatGPT interface. Want a weekend playlist? ChatGPT can now link with Spotify to suggest songs. Searching for a three-bedroom home? It can browse Zillow and show listings in your preferred neighborhood. Users only need to sign in to the connected app once before ChatGPT can interact with it.
“There’s an opportunity for builders to create entirely new applications native to ChatGPT,” said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s COO. “And for the services you already love to benefit, too.”
The announcement comes amid a whirlwind few weeks for OpenAI. The company recently became the most valuable startup in the world after a major secondary share sale, launched its viral social video app Sora (which topped Apple’s App Store), and inked major infrastructure partnerships with Nvidia and AMD to expand its AI capabilities.
The ripple effects of OpenAI’s influence were felt in the stock market too — shares of Figma, Expedia, and Booking Holdings all jumped after being mentioned during the event. “This is a strange new thing,” CEO Sam Altman admitted. “We’re trying to figure out how to adjust to this kind of world, but it’s weird.”
Design legend Jony Ive, best known for shaping Apple’s most iconic products, also made an appearance. Ive and Altman are reportedly collaborating on a secretive AI hardware project. Ive teased that his team had “15 to 20 really compelling product ideas,” but narrowing them down has been tough. “It would be easy if there were only three good ones,” he joked.
ChatGPT’s reach continues to expand, now boasting over 800 million weekly users. That explosive growth has helped OpenAI project a massive US$13 billion (RM61.5 billion) in revenue for 2025 — up from US$4 billion in 2024. Still, the company remains unprofitable due to heavy spending on chips, data centers, and AI research.
“Obviously, one day we have to be very profitable,” Altman said. “But right now, we’re focused on investment and growth.”
To support developers, OpenAI introduced AgentKit, a toolkit that helps companies build AI “agents” capable of completing complex tasks autonomously. Altman said firms like Albertsons, Box, and Canva are already building with it. “Software used to take years or months to build — it can take minutes now,” he added.
The company also revealed smaller, faster voice and image-generation models for cheaper and quicker performance, and said its open-source models on Hugging Face have been downloaded 23 million times.
Nick Turley, who leads the ChatGPT team, hinted at what’s next: ChatGPT will soon evolve into something much bigger — an AI operating system where users can seamlessly access a growing ecosystem of software.
“We never meant to build a chatbot,” Turley said. “We set out to build a super assistant — and now, we’re finally getting there.”
