OpenAI has launched Presence, a service to help large enterprises deploy AI agents for tasks such as customer support, outbound sales and internal workflows, signalling a shift from selling AI models directly towards a consulting-style business. Rather than offering it as a self-service API, OpenAI is delivering Presence through its consulting arm, the OpenAI Deployment Company, using "Forward Deployed Engineers" and select systems integrators to install it on-site, suggesting the company sees more profit in implementation services as the underlying AI models themselves become commoditised.

Presence lets firms set policies and governance controls over agent behaviour, and includes tools such as an agent editor, a playground, and simulations for tasks like refunds and account queries. OpenAI says it already uses Presence to run its own English-language phone support, where it can verify callers, resolve billing issues and hand off to humans when needed. SoftBank, which has committed $60 billion to OpenAI, is trialling the tool for customer interactions, though analyst firm Gartner has predicted that by 2027 half of organisations planning to move customer service to AI will abandon those plans, citing the continued need for human empathy in many interactions.