--- title: "Secret OpenAI Memo Describes Plans to Make Users Rely on “Entity”" description: "In an internal memo, OpenAI described its plans to turn ChatGPT into an \"entity\" that users would rely on for a vast range of tasks." date: "2025-06-01" modified: "2025-06-01" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/secret-openai-memo-chatgpt-reliance" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai assistant" - "antitrust" - "chatgpt" - "OpenAI" --- # Secret OpenAI Memo Describes Plans to Make Users Rely on “Entity” ![In an internal memo, OpenAI described its plans to make users rely on ChatGPT — and it seems to be working.]() *OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (C) and ImmunityBio Executive Chairman Patrick Soon-Shiong (R) wait to meet the Saudi Crown Prince at the Royal Court in Riyadh on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images\* An internal OpenAI document somehow ended up in the discovery process for an [antitrust trial against Google]() — and the revelations about the company's plans for ChatGPT are illuminating and, depending on your point of view, disquieting. As [*The Verge* reports](), the Justice Department's ongoing attempts to [break up Google's alleged monopoly]() garnered an OpenAI memo detailing the latter company's plans to build out ChatGPT an integral part of users' lives — acting as an "entity" that would "understand" them and be their "interface to the internet." "In the first half of next year, we’ll start evolving ChatGPT into a super-assistant," reads the [heavily-redacted document](), which was dated at the end of 2024. "One that knows you, understands what you care about, and helps with any task that a smart, trustworthy, emotionally intelligent person with a computer could do." The first half of 2025, as referenced in the document, has mostly come and gone — and to be fair, it does seem like [more and more people]() have begun to rely on ChatGPT. Still, the product hasn't yet reached the capabilities the company's leadership is envisioning. The "super-assistant" would, as the memo explains, be an "intelligent entity with T-shaped skills," meaning that it can both go in-depth and broad. "It's an entity because it's personalized to you and available anywhere you go — including chatgpt.com, our native apps, phone, email, or third-party surfaces like Siri," the memo continued. "It's T-shaped because it has broad skills for daily tasks that are tedious, and deep expertise for tasks that most people find impossible (starting with coding)." Here's where the reliance part comes in. The ChatGPT-as-super-assistant entity would be, as OpenAI laid out in its memo, "all about making life easier" by doing online tasks that humans currently do themselves, such as "answering a question, finding a home, contacting a lawyer, joining a gym, planning vacations, buying gifts, managing calendars, keeping track of \[to-dos\], \[and\] sending emails." To anyone who's aware of the actual limitations of AI, the concept of relying on ChatGPT or any other chatbot to execute tasks involving financial decisions currently remains far-fetched. Despite the many leaps ChatGPT has made in the two-plus years since it was launched, that chatbot and its competitors still [cannot reliably tell time](), and still have a major penchant for [making stuff up]() or worse, [getting high on its own supply]() of warped AI output. As such, the memo sets up clear stakes: if it wants to succeed, OpenAI will need to either get ChatGPT to the point it's talking about — or at least convince users that its weaknesses are worthwhile for the sake of convenience. **More on OpenAI's big plans:** [*You May Laugh When You Hear What OpenAI's Top Secret AI Gadget Allegedly Looks Like*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()