OpenAI's product chief explains who ChatGPT Work is for, and what it costs to keep it cheap
Thibault Sottiaux leads all of OpenAI's core products. He talked us through the push to bring AI agents to everyday workers, the 'magic' design philosophy, and why he thinks prices will keep falling.
Key points
- OpenAI's ChatGPT Work, an AI agent platform aimed at office workers, has reached 20 million users since launch.
- The service is included in the $20-per-month Plus plan, the same tier that covers standard ChatGPT access.
- OpenAI announced an 80% price cut with a new efficiency model called Luna, described as a permanent reduction, not a promotion.
- Thibault Sottiaux, who leads all core products at OpenAI including the API, Codex, and all ChatGPT versions, reports to co-founder Greg Brockman.
- OpenAI rolled out iMessage integration for ChatGPT on the same day as the interview, first reported by TechCrunch AI.
Thibault Sottiaux is not a name most ChatGPT users would recognise. Inside OpenAI, he oversees everything from the developer API to the consumer chatbot. He is also the person who has, at various points, manually increased token limits, the monthly cap on how much a user can interact with the AI, when a product hits a growth target. His latest project is ChatGPT Work, a platform that gives everyday office workers access to AI agents: software that can carry out multi-step tasks on its own, such as reading a pile of documents, writing a report, and building a slide deck, without being guided step by step.
What is ChatGPT Work, exactly?
It is an AI agent tool designed for people who are not software engineers. Most AI agent products have been built for technical users who are comfortable with code and comfortable with things going wrong. ChatGPT Work aims to bring that capability to a nurse, a shop owner, or a teacher.
Sottiaux describes the goal plainly: take what was made for a "forgiving technical audience" and package it so it is safe and pleasant enough for anyone to pick up on a phone or a browser. The service sits inside the existing $20-per-month Plus subscription, meaning no separate purchase is needed.
Is it actually ready for ordinary workers?
Sottiaux says yes, and points to 20 million users as evidence. The design choice behind the product is what he calls "minimal product surface": fewer buttons, fewer settings, more letting the AI figure out what to do. His explicit comparison is to ChatGPT Voice, which lets users talk to the chatbot naturally, and which he says has grown quickly because people do not have to learn a new interface.
Not everyone agrees the approach is right. Ethan Mollick, a professor at Wharton who studies AI tools, has noted that rival Claude, Anthropic's chatbot, asks users to make more choices and run their own comparisons. Sottiaux's answer is that workers should not have to adapt to the software. The software should adapt to them.
The underlying model powering the product is GPT-5.6, which Sottiaux describes as a step up in general work tasks: processing large numbers of documents, producing slides and research reports.
What will it cost to use?
The short answer: less than it does now, over time.
OpenAI has announced an 80% price reduction tied to a new efficiency model called Luna. Sottiaux frames this as a permanent correction, not a temporary offer. The pitch to anyone worried about rising bills is straightforward: the same work that costs a certain amount today should cost less in six months, not more.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT Work users (at launch milestone) | 20 million |
| Plus plan monthly price | $20 |
| Price cut announced via Luna model | 80% |
| GPT model version for Work tasks | GPT-5.6 |
Should you worry about giving it access to your messages?
OpenAI is asking users to connect ChatGPT to their email and, as of this week, to Apple's iMessage. That is a meaningful step. Sottiaux's answer is to point to investment in what he calls a "safety stack" and to published benchmarks on model behaviour.
If you are uncomfortable with that level of access, the practical step is simple: do not connect those accounts yet. The core task features work without inbox or messaging access.
Common questions
Do I need a separate subscription for ChatGPT Work?
No. ChatGPT Work is included in the standard Plus plan, which costs $20 per month, the same plan that covers regular ChatGPT access.
What is a token limit, and why does it matter?
A token is roughly equivalent to a word or a piece of a word. AI services set a monthly cap on how many tokens a user can consume, which controls how much processing the service will do for that price. Hitting the cap means the AI stops working until the next billing period or until the limit is raised.
Will the AI make mistakes on my work documents?
Yes, sometimes. Sottiaux describes the current approach as iterative: the product learns from real use and improves over time. Checking outputs, especially on anything consequential, remains good practice.
