Users of OpenAI’s software engineering tool Codex may know Thibault Sottiaux as the person who resets token limits whenever a product reaches a growth milestone. Now, OpenAI is bringing that dopamine hit to us with ChatGPT Work, a platform for white-collar workers to leverage AI agents. I spoke with Sottiaux for a feature on this product and its challenges, and I wanted to share more of that conversation with our readers. Here is a lightly edited and condensed interview about persuading skeptics, discovery as a product design philosophy, and the cost of intelligence.
TechCrunch: I know you’re part of the technical staff. Is it correct to say that you are the Product Lead for Codex and Work?
Sottiaux: I lead all core products: API, agent infrastructure, enterprise, all of ChatGPT including ChatGPT Work, ChatGPT Classic, and all of Codex.
Q: Is it correct to assume that you report to Greg Brockman?
Sotior: Oh, Greg. I want everyone to report to Greg at the end of the day.
Q: Why is ChatGPT Work so important to OpenAI?
Sotior: We wanted to bring the power of a coding agent to everyone. So this is an exercise in taking something that was made for techies and packaging it in a way that’s not only safe and comfortable to use, but can also be used on the go on mobile and the web, making it available to the widest possible audience. This is why we also launched it as part of the Plus plan, which costs just $20 a month and the amount of value you get from it is pretty incredible. So that’s similar to what we were pursuing. It’s like, “We’re going to make this technology available to as wide a group of people as possible.”
Q: Analysts say there are important economic incentives here and the need for OpenAI to own the user-application relationship.
Sottiaux: The more value and utility we create for our users, the more likely they will be willing to pay for some of that utility as well. That’s how we’ve always seen ChatGPT as well. It’s like, I’m bringing so much utility to you as a user, and you’re just sitting there thinking, “Of course I want to pay $20 a month for this.” Because you know you’re getting far more value.
Q: How important is this technology in terms of winning public opinion against AI?
Sotiaux: The way I see it, we have a role to play in bringing this technology to everyone, so how do we make it popular? Codex was built for open-minded technology users, and we made some of these features available very early on, but now that this technology has reached a level of maturity, we feel that the right step is to take this technology to a wider audience and then teach it to everyone. This goes far beyond getting help with writing or getting help with personal advice. With this new element, ChatGPT can actually perform entire highly complex tasks autonomously in a fun and safe way. OpenAI’s mission is to bring everyone along.
TC: How do you think about that transition, and when is it appropriate to let the model take the lead instead of putting buttons and user interfaces in front of people?
Sotior: The essence of what we are trying to do is to build a highly capable model and find the simplest and most enjoyable way to introduce it into your life and get a great deal of utility from it. To do this, we need to get the most out of the way from the model, allowing it to express itself and take advantage of all the utilities it has to offer. … (A) Minimal product surfaces, simply delightful simplicity, and a very natural way of interacting with humans.
We used to use text, but now we have launched ChatGPT Voice and have seen significant growth. Just talking to you is supernatural, right? The way we’re talking now is just having an engaging conversation. This advancement in technology will become more natural over time. It adapts to humans. On the contrary, there is no need to learn how to use this application.
TC: Do you have a model? I was reading Ethan Mollick, a professor at Wharton who studies these tools, saying that ChatGPT Work is about to become magic, and that Claude Cowork will put A/B testing in front of you and force you to make more choices. Do you think workers in general are capable of that level of magic?
Mr. Sotiaux: There’s no question that the world looks ready. This is why we have an incredible hiring record. We just announced that we’ve reached 20 million users. We were able to launch this product in a way that is simple yet powerful, simple but uncompromising.
TC: It’s crazy to think about building a product that has all the bells and whistles. Are you thinking about minimum viable products? Are you thinking about discrete problems? What are you evaluating?
Sotiaux: It’s almost a product of discovery as well. As you move to the forefront of a model’s capabilities, you’ll also discover what it’s capable of, sorting out what’s most likely to happen, and building better products around it. There is an element of discovery of ability, including for us. And it’s always such a magical and fun experience.
For example, GPT 5.6 improves common tasks. This means you can now do the tasks that professionals do: process large amounts of documents, create high-quality slides, create high-quality reports, and perform in-depth research. Then rely on it to gather feedback and continue to improve. This is also part of the iterative rollout of these features. We learn from the community, learn from real-world usage, and continually improve.
TC: There’s a big gap between what you’re paying on the Plus plan and the amount of tokens you’re using. What do you think will happen? Should we be worried about it? Should CFOs worry about that?
Sotiaux: We work every day to push the frontiers of efficiency. Luna has announced a huge price reduction of 80% off. This is a permanent price fix… so the current level of Frontier features will become cheaper and cheaper over time. This is something that will continue. Our goal is to include more utilities for the same amount over time. I mean, if you wanted to do more, of course you could pay more to do more, but with today’s capabilities, you could just wake up in six months and do all the same things for less.
TC: What would you say to someone who’s stressed out about giving them access to their email or giving them access to their iMessage, which we just rolled out today?
Sottiaux: It is important to choose a safe and regulated model. And a very big part of our investment is in safety stacks, safety approaches, and we publish honest benchmarks on these. And our models are world class in these areas.
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