OpenAI brings app suggestions and interactive tools into ChatGPT
By Automate Basics, written with AI from TechCrunch's original
OpenAI plans to suggest relevant apps within ChatGPT conversations and let people use connected tools in interactive panels. For workers, that could make a chat about a meeting or design project a place to use the app needed for the task.
What changed in ChatGPT?
OpenAI says ChatGPT will suggest an app during a conversation when that app could help with the task at hand. A person could then connect the app and use it without leaving ChatGPT. TechCrunch also reports that ChatGPT's plugin system now supports extensions, which developers can use to build interactive panels for their tools inside the chat.
The change is about more than finding an app by name. In a demonstration reported by TechCrunch, OpenAI showed a meeting app displaying upcoming calendar events inside ChatGPT, with an option to take notes and produce follow-up items. TechCrunch also describes design work involving apps from Figma and Adobe. Those examples show the intended workflow, not a promise that every app or feature is available to every user.
Who can use ChatGPT's connected apps?
TechCrunch does not specify which ChatGPT plans include the new app suggestions or interactive panels, what they cost, or when they will reach all users. OpenAI's demonstration shows how an app could work inside ChatGPT, but it does not establish that the demonstrated meeting workflow is generally available.
For teams, TechCrunch reports another way connected apps could be used: colleagues can open lightweight sites made with ChatGPT and sign in to an app using their own credentials and permissions. That matters when a shared project involves access to company material. Each colleague's access would depend on their own account rather than the account of the person who shared the site. OpenAI has not said that connecting an app removes any separate subscription or charge for that service.
How do I try connected apps at work?
A useful first task is a meeting follow-up or a revision to an existing design project, the kinds of work OpenAI showed or discussed in the examples reported by TechCrunch. When ChatGPT offers a relevant app, check whether it is the tool your team already uses and whether you are comfortable connecting your account before proceeding.
For meeting notes, compare the resulting follow-up items with your own notes and calendar context before sending them to colleagues. For a design revision, inspect the proposed changes in the project rather than assuming the chat response reflects the finished work. If you share an app through a ChatGPT-made site, check what each colleague can access with their own credentials. The source does not give a menu path or a set of steps to follow.
Frequently asked questions
Will ChatGPT suggest an app for my task?
OpenAI says ChatGPT will suggest an app within a conversation when it identifies one that could help. TechCrunch reports that a user will then be able to connect and use the app inside ChatGPT. The report does not say when that experience will be available to everyone.
Do connected apps come with my ChatGPT plan?
TechCrunch does not identify the ChatGPT plans that include app suggestions and interactive panels or give a price for them. It also reports that OpenAI has not said these features will remove the need to pay separately for a third-party app or service.
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Written with AI from TechCrunch's original and published after automatic checks: every figure here appears in the original, and no sentence is copied from it. The picture is AI-generated. The original is the authority.
Source: OpenAI’s latest features take direct aim at the app store model, TechCrunch, 29 Sept 2026.