OpenAI adds workspace agents to ChatGPT for long-running team workflows

OpenAI introduced workspace agents in ChatGPT on April 22, 2026, giving business users a new way to build shared AI assistants that can carry out multi-step work in the background. The company says the agents are designed for tasks that stretch beyond a single prompt, including reports, code, messages and approvals inside an organization’s existing tools.

Workspace agents move ChatGPT beyond one-off prompts

The new feature is built on Codex and is available in research preview for ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, Edu and Teachers plans. OpenAI says teams can create one agent, share it across an organization and use it in ChatGPT or Slack, with the agent continuing to work even when a user is away.

OpenAI’s examples include a software review agent that routes approvals and opens IT tickets, a lead outreach agent that qualifies inbound prospects and drafts follow-up email, and a weekly metrics reporter that pulls data, generates charts and writes a summary. The company also says workspace agents can be scheduled to run automatically.

Approval gates and admin controls are built in

OpenAI is positioning the product as a governed workflow layer rather than a free-form chatbot. Workspace agents can gather context from connected systems, follow team processes and ask for approval before sensitive steps such as editing spreadsheets, sending email or adding calendar events. Admins can also control which tools and actions are available, manage who can use or share agents and inspect activity through analytics.

The company says the agents include safeguards against prompt injection attacks and that the Compliance API gives administrators visibility into configuration, updates and runs. OpenAI added that admins will later be able to view every agent built across their organization from the admin console.

Free access ends on May 6

OpenAI said workspace agents will be free until May 6, 2026, after which credit-based pricing begins. The company is also using the launch to push ChatGPT deeper into enterprise operations, where recurring workflows and internal knowledge are often harder to automate than a single message or document draft.

For businesses that already use ChatGPT, the release marks a more practical turn: less a chatbot upgrade than an attempt to make the product a durable automation layer for work that crosses tools, teams and approvals.