Users of OpenAI’s software engineering tool Codex may know Thibault Sottiaux as the person who resets their token limits whenever the product hits a growth milestone. Now, OpenAI is aiming to bring that same excitement to a broader audience with ChatGPT Work, a platform designed for white-collar professionals to leverage AI agents. I spoke with Sottiaux for our feature on the product and its challenges, but we wanted to share more of that conversation with our readers. Below is a lightly edited and condensed version of our interview, covering topics such as winning over skeptics, discovery as a product design philosophy, and the cost of intelligence.
Leadership and Product Scope
TechCrunch: I know you’re a member of the technical staff. Is it correct to say you’re the product lead for Codex and Work?
Sottiaux: I lead all core products—that includes the API, agent infrastructure, enterprise solutions, all of ChatGPT (including ChatGPT Work and ChatGPT classic), and everything related to Codex.
TechCrunch: Am I right in thinking you report to Greg Brockman?
Sottiaux: Yes, Greg. I like to say that everyone reports to Greg at the end of the day.
Why ChatGPT Work Matters
TechCrunch: Why is ChatGPT Work so important to OpenAI?
Sottiaux: We wanted to bring the power of coding agents to everyone. This is an exercise in taking something designed for technical people and packaging it in a way that is safe, delightful, and accessible—on mobile, on web, and for as broad a population as possible. That’s why we launched it as part of the Plus plan, which costs just $20 a month. The value you get out of it is incredible. Our goal is to make this technology available to the widest audience possible.
Economic Motivation and User Value
TechCrunch: Analysts suggest there’s an important economic motivation here: OpenAI needs to own the application relationship with the user.
Sottiaux: The more value and utility we generate for users, the more they’ll be willing to pay for a part of that utility. That’s how we’ve always seen ChatGPT. We’re delivering so much value that users naturally think, “Of course I want to pay $20 a month for this,” because the value they receive far exceeds the cost.
Winning Over the Public
TechCrunch: How important could this technology be in winning over public opinion toward AI?
Sottiaux: We have a role in bringing everyone along with this technology. It’s about diffusion. Codex was built for a forgiving technical audience, where we made advanced capabilities available early. Now, the technology has reached a level of maturity where it’s the right step to diffuse it to a much broader audience and teach everyone what’s possible. This is much more than getting help with writing or personal advice. With this new capability, ChatGPT can autonomously handle entire, complex tasks for you in a way that is both delightful and safe. The mission is to make that accessible to everyone.
via TechCrunch AI