ChatGPT Work, OpenAI鈥檚 agentic AI tool, is now available to all ChatGPT users, including those on the free tier, though capacity is limited by token usage. The product, launched after a surge in non-programmers using coding tools for everyday tasks, allows the AI to open a browser, manipulate files, and execute multi-step processes on its own. According to the source article, ChatGPT Work evolved directly from agentic coding tools like Claude Code and OpenAI鈥檚 Codex, which some users repurposed for non-coding work before Anthropic and OpenAI built dedicated work products.
The key difference between standard ChatGPT and ChatGPT Work is that the former answers questions while the latter completes tasks. For example, ChatGPT might search the web to plan a trip, but ChatGPT Work can operate a browser on screen, create and move files, and run through a long sequence of steps. The tool also overlaps with ChatGPT鈥檚 Deep Research mode, which is described as a special-purpose agentic web researcher capable of producing deeper analysis than the base chat function.
Pricing and usage capacity vary. The source article notes that free users get only a small amount of agentic capacity, while the $20-per-month ChatGPT Plus plan provides roughly 20 hours of agentic coding or similar work per month. The author found that on the Plus tier, they could complete a fairly large project every few days without feeling overly restricted. OpenAI, like other AI companies, does not offer a single usage metric, as each request consumes a different mix of resources, making absolute capacity impossible to state.
The desktop app changed in mid-July, when OpenAI merged ChatGPT, Work, and Codex into a single "super app." The source says this integration had the side effect of removing some of the app鈥檚 best features. Users can switch between Chat and Work modes using two buttons above the message bar, and in Work mode, they can select a specific folder to restrict a project to a single directory hierarchy.
The source article also describes a practical test: the author asked ChatGPT Work to organize a large collection of PDF files by renaming and sorting them into topics. One concern raised is that the tool has not been asking for permission as often as desired, prompting the author to carefully tune requests to keep the AI from taking unwanted actions. The article also notes a research example, where the author used ChatGPT Work to compare wireless vertical mice that support multiple devices, saving time that would otherwise be spent manually checking product specifications on Amazon.
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