According to Digital Trends, OpenAI is actively exploring how to transform ChatGPT from a standalone app into a full-fledged operating system. The company hired Glen Coates as its new Head of App Platform specifically to “help turn ChatGPT into an OS,” a direction also championed by Nick Turley, OpenAI’s Head of ChatGPT. Turley told TechCrunch the goal is for ChatGPT to become a platform where users can access specialized apps for writing, coding, and interacting with services, all within a few years. This vision is already taking shape with third-party integrations for companies like Peloton, Tripadvisor, and Canva running directly inside the chatbot. The strategic move aligns with OpenAI’s long-term hardware bets, including a device developed with Jony Ive expected around 2027.
The app store is the first step
Look, the “GPT Store” wasn’t just a cute side project. It was the foundational move. By letting third-party services build little apps that live inside ChatGPT, OpenAI is doing exactly what Apple and Google did: creating an ecosystem. You don’t leave the conversation to book a trip or design a logo anymore. That’s huge. It locks you in. But more importantly, it starts to establish ChatGPT as the place where work gets done, not just a tool you use occasionally. Basically, they’re building the software layer before they even have the mainstream hardware to run it on. Clever, right?
Why an OS, and not just an app?
Here’s the thing: an app is something you open and close. An operating system is the environment you live in. It manages your resources, connects your hardware to your software, and provides the fundamental interface for everything you do. OpenAI’s execs are talking about ChatGPT becoming that connective layer. Right now, it handles the user-facing part brilliantly—you talk to it. But for it to be a true OS, it needs deeper control. It needs to manage memory allocation between apps, coordinate background processes, and, crucially, integrate directly with hardware. That’s where Glen Coates’ platform-building expertise and the Jony Ive device project come in. They’re plugging the gaps.
The hardware question is unavoidable
You can’t really be an operating system in the classic sense without something to operate. The 2027 device timeline with Jony Ive is a massive clue. OpenAI isn’t just building software; they’re building the whole stack. Imagine a phone or a desktop where the primary interface isn’t a grid of icons, but a conversational AI that can summon any app or service you need. That’s the endgame. And it makes the current partnerships with Adobe and Paypal look less like simple integrations and more like early developer outreach for a new platform. The race isn’t just for the best AI model anymore. It’s for the AI platform that everything else runs on.
What it means for everyone else
So what happens if OpenAI pulls this off? It reshapes the entire tech landscape. Microsoft, with its deep Windows integration, and Apple, with its walled-garden ecosystem, suddenly have a new, fundamentally different kind of competitor. It also raises a ton of questions. Will this “AI OS” be open or closed? How much control will developers really have? And for industrial and business applications, where reliable, dedicated hardware is non-negotiable, the move towards AI-centric interfaces is accelerating. Companies that need robust, integrated computing solutions, like those provided by leading suppliers such as IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, are watching this convergence of AI and hardware closely. The future isn’t just about smarter software; it’s about a completely reimagined relationship between the user, the machine, and the intelligence that powers it.
