OpenAI cofounder envisions “almost no interface” future where nobody learns software anymore

Greg Brockman admits ChatGPT’s plugins, heavily marketed in 2023, failed “because the models weren’t ready.” Instead of app extensions, he sees the future in an invisible, context-aware agent. But OpenAI’s own Codex is still light-years from that vision.

“That didn’t work. It didn’t work at all because the models weren’t ready,” OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman says. That didn’t stop OpenAI from confidently marketing the technology, worth keeping in mind next time the company hypes a new product. Brockman wants to take things in a different direction going forward. In his view, people shouldn’t have to learn software anymore, and ChatGPT should become an invisible layer for handing off digital tasks. “You want almost no interface, you want no product,” he says. The goal is a persistent, context-aware agent that acts on its own, not an app packed with ever more features. OpenAI’s own products still contradict that vision. A tool like Codex is light-years from an invisible interface. AI models also still aren’t reliable enough, and closing that gap requires heavy prompt work and custom integrations. Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft have all spun up separate companies for exactly that reason, sending teams on-site to help businesses integrate AI.AdDEC_D_Incontent-1Ad Follow The Decoder for AI news, background stories and expert analyses.