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Kicking off the current generative AI frenzy, ChatGPT is already a relatively capable AI, able to answer questions, generate content, and chat with you about almost any topic. But OpenAI isn’t stopping there. Rather, the company has big plans for its popular AI, envisioning an evolution that would turn it into a “super assistant.”
OpenAI’s goals for ChatGPT came to light courtesy of a confidential and highly redacted document introduced as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google. In the internal file named “ChatGPT: H1 2025 Strategy,” OpenAI described the near future of ChatGPT as an intuitive super assistant that understands you and acts as your interface to the internet.
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Boasting that ChatGPT is already more than a chatbot as people use it to answer questions, write content, and create code, OpenAI wants its AI to also be an expert, tutor, adviser, muse, collaborator, translator, entertainer, companion, and analyzer. And just how and when will all this happen?
“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,” OpenAI said in the document. “The timing is right. Models like o2 and o3 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 Ul allow both ChatGPT and users to express themselves in the best way for the task.”
OK, but what exactly can a super assistant do for you? In the document, OpenAI referred to it as an intelligent entity with T-shaped skills. Typically used to describe skilled employees in a business, T-shaped means that someone is both a specialist and a generalist. In the context of AI, ChatGPT would possess deep expertise and knowledge in one or more areas, such as coding, and a broader understanding across a range of other areas, especially ones that may be tedious or laborious.
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“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 to-dos, sending emails,” OpenAI added in the document — the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Plus, the title of super assistant implies that the AI would not only be personalized to you but would be accessible anywhere and anytime. Here, OpenAI touted ChatGPT’s availability as a website, a native Windows and Mac app, a mobile app, an email service, and as an extension through other resources like Apple’s Siri.
Touching on its growth and revenue as ChatGPT progresses, OpenAI said the new skills won’t generate monetizable demand during the first half of 2026. But by building out these capabilities during that time, the company expects financial benefits from the new models during the second half of the year.
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The document also sheds light on how OpenAI sees the competition. Though ChatGPT may be the most popular AI, rivals are nipping at its heels. Here, the company cited Claude AI, Gemini, Copilot, and Meta AI. Though it pointed to itself as the leader, OpenAI said that it can’t rest and that it needs to offer the best free model, the best interface, and the strongest brand.
For 2025, there’s one rival that OpenAI seems to fear the most – one that presents the largest threat due to its ability to embed the same features and functionality across all its products without cannibalizing them the way Google does. Though the name of the company is redacted, the most likely candidate is Meta, especially since the small size of the blackout points to a short name.
Most of the rest of the document is likewise redacted, so it’s difficult to pull together further insight. But beyond its continued lead in the AI market, OpenAI is looking for a more competitive edge in a couple of other areas. And this ties directly into the antitrust complaints that have long hit companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google.
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“Real choice drives competition and benefits everyone,” OpenAI said. “Users should be able to pick their Al assistant. If you’re on iOS, Android, or Windows, you should be able to set ChatGPT as your default. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta shouldn’t push their own Als without giving users fair alternatives. The same goes for search engines: Google, Apple, Microsoft should offer users a choice for their default search engine and make their underlying indexes accessible to Al assistants, including ChatGPT.”
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