OpenAI Plans ChatGPT Superapp as IPO Pressures Mount, FT Reports

OpenAI is preparing to convert ChatGPT into a single superapp interface that combines coding, task automation, image generation, and third-party services, according to a Financial Times report based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees. The redesign, internally codenamed "Aria," has not been publicly confirmed by OpenAI, though changes to the website and mobile apps are expected to begin rolling out in the coming weeks. ChatGPT has nearly 1 billion users, the majority of whom access the product for free, a dynamic the company is working to change ahead of a potential initial public offering.

Thibault Sottiaux, who previously ran Codex and now leads all of OpenAI's core product and platform, told the FT the goal is an assistant "capable of helping you across everything in your life, be it personally or at work." A senior OpenAI employee told the Financial Times that "chat is dead," reflecting the company's intent to move beyond the conversational interface that defined its early growth. The superapp push is modeled in part on WeChat, Tencent's everything-app, which launched as a messaging platform in 2011 and now processes 45 billion messages a day for 1.4 billion monthly users, with WeChat Pay and Alipay handling $40 trillion in annual transactions.

The consolidation draws on an expanding product stack. The Codex coding agent can write, debug, and deploy software from a text prompt. The ChatGPT Agent, launched in July 2025, can browse the web, run apps, and place orders autonomously. Workspace agents, released in April 2026, run persistent multi-step workflows inside Slack and other enterprise tools. OpenAI's annualized revenue has passed $20 billion, with business customers accounting for 40% of the total and the majority of Codex users paying for the service, unlike the majority of ChatGPT users.

Jenny Xiao, a Leonis Capital partner and former OpenAI researcher, told the FT that a year ago OpenAI was "swing for the fences" while Anthropic was "make money first." Now, she said, "the two are converging, because both of them are trying to aim for an IPO and investors care more about money than dreams," framing Anthropic as the direct competitive pressure. The FT also pointed to parallel Western attempts to replicate the WeChat model, including Elon Musk's launch of XChat encrypted messaging and X Money peer-to-peer payments through a Visa partnership in 2025, and Meta's earlier efforts with Messenger bots in 2016 and ongoing WhatsApp payments work.