By Isabelle Bousquette
For years, companies have been looking to replicate the smooth conversational experience of ChatGPT with artificial-intelligence agents and chatbots on their websites. Now some are finding there might be value in cozying up to ChatGPT itself.
OpenAI in recent weeks has seen a surge in businesses publishing so-called ChatGPT apps, including rollouts from Starbucks, Little Caesars Pizza and Wyndham Hotels last month.
These apps are a way for users to engage with brands directly inside the ChatGPT interface, getting answers and advice on products and services. Often they will take users right up until the point of action, directing them to Little Caesars's own mobile app or website, for example, when they are ready to place or pay for an order.
OpenAI announced the capability in October 2025 but said it recently streamlined its process for approving apps, one reason for the recent burst.
Brands say the upshot is customer proximity. "We wanted to meet our customers where they are," said Neelima Sharma, senior vice president of omnichannel and e-commerce technology at Lowe's, whose ChatGPT app went live in February.
But the business value of some of these apps remains hazy, with brands citing issues with discoverability, data sharing and ownership of the customer relationship as challenges that still need to be worked out.
An OpenAI spokesperson said the company is seeing strong momentum around apps, with hundreds of apps live and new apps launching every day.
"We're still in the very early days of this ecosystem, and we recognize there's more work to do to make the experience better for brands and users alike. Over time, we expect ChatGPT to become the primary way that many users interact with the key products and services in their personal and work lives," the company spokesperson said.
For OpenAI, making ChatGPT a go-to interface for consumer experiences is a critical component as it gears up for a potential initial public offering as soon as this year. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that OpenAI missed targets for new users and revenue, while rival chatbots like Anthropic's Claude, which has its own nascent version of apps, rose in popularity in recent months. OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said in a post this week that OpenAI hit its "aggressive plan" in the first quarter.
Several companies say ChatGPT is the chatbot of choice for consumers and they are building apps there first before Claude. They also say they have been working with OpenAI to address some of the challenges.
"Discoverability, I think, is a top one for us," said Josh Weisberg, head of AI at Zillow. The real-estate tech platform was one of the earliest companies to roll out a ChatGPT app back in October.
Typically, users have to "connect" to an app from OpenAI's app directory, accessible by clicking the three dots under "more" on the upper left hand corner of the ChatGPT home screen, then later make a point of officially telling ChatGPT to invoke it when they are ready to use it.
OpenAI's app developer terms don't guarantee discoverability, but the company said it is experimenting with ways to surface apps more directly within conversations, without explicit invocation.
"Our models are consistently improving in how and when they invoke apps in response to user queries," the company said.
That experience can be a problem for brands trying to reach more users, said John Campbell, head of innovation and AI at media agency Roast, which advises companies on optimizing their visibility inside of AI chatbots.
"The average person who's using [ChatGPT] for discovering a product or planning a holiday, they probably don't know about these apps," he said.
The other problem, Campbell said, is a lack of compelling use cases inside some of the apps.
"The Starbucks one is basically a little interactive game to find out your ideal drink," he said. You still have to go to Starbucks's own app or website to make the purchase.
Starbucks SVP of Digital and Loyalty Paul Riedel said the app is a beta experience and "an opportunity for us to listen, learn, and refine as we go."
Although it is possible to build the order and purchase capabilities into ChatGPT apps today, some companies don't want that.
Little Caesars, which rolled out its app in April, said it liked keeping the ultimate transaction on its own platform. That way, it still owns the customer relationship and receives the relevant customer data from the purchase, said Derek Shon, global director of Product Strategy for Little Caesars Enterprises.
Sharing metrics and usage data also has been tricky.
"We're working with them on the metrics that we would like to see, versus what they're capable of providing," said Scott Strickland, chief commercial officer of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which launched its app in April.
OpenAI confirmed it would share some stats on usage, but the cadence is slower than what Strickland is used to with other app managers like Apple, he said.
"We haven't gotten any of those metrics," Strickland said.
OpenAI said it is hoping to invest more in app analytics over time.
Write to Isabelle Bousquette at isabelle.bousquette@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 06, 2026 20:00 ET (00:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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