OpenAI unveils AI agent service as part of push to attract businesses

Your next coworker might be generated by AI.

OpenAI ‍on Thursday said it is launching a service, ​called Frontier, for companies to build and ‌manage so-called artificial-intelligence agents, or AI ​tools that can complete specific tasks, like fixing a software bug.

The platform is part of a broader effort by OpenAI to seize the enterprise market from its rivals, notably the AI startup Anthropic, which draws the bulk ​of its revenue from companies. Last year, OpenAI ⁠CEO Sam Altman said enterprise growth would be a “huge focus” for his company.

The enterprise market is just one ​of many places ⁠where OpenAI and Anthropic are going head-to-head. Both companies are preparing to go public, a process that will pit them against each other ‌for investor attention.

The two companies will ‌also be running rival ads during the Super Bowl. Anthropic’s ad appears to ‍be a thinly veiled jab at OpenAI’s decision to bring ads to ChatGPT, a critique ‍that ruffled feathers at OpenAI on Wednesday. In a post on X, Altman described Anthropic’s ad as funny but “clearly dishonest.”

OpenAI executives said Frontier is meant to work with a company’s preexisting infrastructure as well as AI agents built by third parties.

That approach means that companies might ⁠adopt OpenAI’s enterprise tools faster than is otherwise possible, said Fidji Simo, who oversees ​OpenAI’s product and business teams as the startup’s ⁠CEO of applications.

“This is us saying we’re going to build an intelligence layer that’s going to help every enterprise turn on agents in a much easier way,” ⁠she said.