OpenAI announced features at its Dev Day that transform ChatGPT into a platform for discovering, launching and using applications, effectively challenging the traditional app store model. The company has expanded ChatGPT's capabilities to suggest relevant apps during conversations, allow users to connect and operate apps directly within the chatbot interface, and enable developers to build AI-native versions of their applications. This represents a significant shift in how software might be distributed and accessed, leveraging ChatGPT's reported 1.2 billion weekly users as a powerful distribution channel.

The rollout includes a "Sign in with ChatGPT" feature that allows users to bring their AI allowance and identity to third-party applications, with 16 launch partners already participating including Notion, Vercel, Figma and others. The enhanced plugin architecture now supports interactive panels where users can work with tools whilst chatting with ChatGPT, enabling use cases like AI-powered meeting notes within calendar apps or design revisions using Figma and Adobe tools. OpenAI has also streamlined its plugin review process, allowing developers to track submissions, request human review and update tools without restarting their application.