ChatGPT's Quiet Evolution: A productivity suite in the making...?

The AI landscape is moving at speed. While it's easy to get distracted by newer, shinier models like DeepSeek and Grok3, for most businesses, the real battle isn't simply about the sheer power of the models they're using: it's about how AI integrates into your regular daily workflows. And OpenAI knows it.

AI That Works The Way You Do

I've spent a lot of time immersed in tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini over the last couple of years. But you knew that already, right? And it strikes me that there's a lot of chatter around the advancing of the underlying LLMs that drive these tools, especially as the likes of DeepSeek and Grok3 have emerged; offering more powerful, efficient models trained for a fraction of the cost of their predecessors. All good, I guess.

(Mind you, it was literally just a month ago when you couldn't read an article about AI without being told we'd hit 'peak AI': the world had run out of data to train the models on and that was that. Those discussions didn't age well, did they?)

Yet as I've said before, the power of these emergent models is only as good as your application of - or interaction with - them.

ChatGPT is starting to feel like a nascent productivity suite rather than just a chatbot.

So, if you're building apps that connect with these models using APIs, it makes total sense to look at how DeepSeek et al might give you a competitive advantage for lower ongoing costs. But I sense that not many people are at that stage of adoption yet. And that's certainly true amongst the majority of companies that I work with.

Making AI Stickier Than Ever

Meanwhile, OpenAI has taken a two-pronged approach to its roadmap. Clearly, the company is heavily invested in the development of its core models: with o3 rolling out and GPT4.5 and GPT5 both being readied for launch 'soon'.

However, what's often a little less obvious is the investment OpenAI is making in the product itself, evolving ChatGPT's interface from the simple chatbot we know and love, into what I'd describe as something that's increasingly looking like a more general business productivity tool.

Think about it: for regular business users, infatuations with the 'latest, fastest' model will come and go, but if you build a platform that becomes intrinsic to their daily workflows, it's far harder to unpick when that shiny new LLM drops.

Beyond the Chatbox

Personally, that's where I see the updates at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 forming the basis of a more robust push into enterprise for OpenAI. In addition to the security assurances that a ChatGPT Team or Enterprise account brings, most of the new front-end functionality is designed to keep users increasingly 'in' the OpenAI ecosystem.

Build a platform that becomes intrinsic to people's daily workflows, and it's far harder to move when that shiny new LLM drops.

For most business users, the biggest friction point with using LLMs are around basic usability. With Canvas and Projects, OpenAI is making ChatGPT feel like a nascent productivity suite rather than just a chatbot: that's a crucial step towards AI adoption in corporate environments.

Hidden Powers

You may have used Canvas, and if you haven't, why the heck not?

Busting text out of the chat box and into fully formed documents eliminates one of the biggest complaints about originating work with these tools; the ability to edit, tweak, format, comment on a large chunk of text makes document co-creation feel like a genuine collaboration, without the constant back-and-forth of a chat-based discussion.

And where you once had a long stream of past GPeeTee chats, Projects brings structure amongst the chaos; folders for chats that can draw on shared documents and custom instructions set at a Project level. Prefer your 'proposals' project chat punchy, but you’d very much rather that your 'blogs' might be somewhat more verbose, no? It's a couple of lines of text away...although, I rarely let my AI friend near my precious articles. Oo-er.

Add in Operator and Deep Research, and you're starting to build something stickier than a treacle-dipped hedgehog in a velcro jumpsuit.

Even Tasks, which launched to little fanfare in January 2025 brings a degree of automation to help with your workflows...without the merest mention of an AI Agent. And yet, it's a fantastic way of having regular or time-based tasks schedule themselves around your agenda. Think 'send me my AI round-up news every Friday at 2pm', 'give me some SEO tips for my website every Monday morning', or 'let's pick up on this workshop planning next Tuesday.'

Add in the updates that have grabbed more attention of late, Operator and Deep Research, and you're starting to build something stickier than a treacle-dipped hedgehog in a velcro jumpsuit.

Productivity + Integration => Sheer Power

Operator is an autonomous web browsing agent that can take on activities online on your behalf (with security limitations!), undertaking some initially basic tasks just like a human would just from a prompt. Deep Research combines reasoning models (AI models that take a multi-stage approach that 'thinks' about the task at hand) with powerful online and knowledge searches to produce detailed research reports (and more). Again, these tools are less about chat and more about AI-driven automation.

Caveat: I've not yet got my hands on Operator as it's not out in the UK, or Deep Research as I need to cough up the additional $180/month to access it. But when I do, I'll be reporting back here.

I maintain - and hey, I might be completely wrong here - that for most business users integrating LLMs into their operations, it won't be the flashiest AI chatbot that wins in the short to medium term. It'll be about the company that manages to create something that feels so tightly integrated to their workflows that it's just unimaginable to suddenly stop using the wider functionality it provides. That's what will drive business adoption - and critically, retention - in the long run.

For me, right now, it's ChatGPT that's currently treading that path.

If you’re curious about AI, and need help exploring how to make it work for your business, why not talk to me about the training I provide through my programme, The AI Advantage, described as ‘the best workshop I’ve even been on!’

I work with clients through whole-team workshops through to one-to-one c-suite coaching, designed to immerse you and your team in how to get the most of the tools, and how they can fit into your day-to-day operations.

Interested? Let’s have that chat: drop me a message.