OpenAI merges ChatGPT's Chat and Work tabs into one workspace

A simpler structure for a crowded app

OpenAI is merging the Chat and Work tabs inside the ChatGPT desktop app into a single interface, TechCrunch reported on November 2. The company announced the change in an email to users, saying it will initially be offered to a small group for feedback before a wider rollout.

The desktop app currently splits ChatGPT and Codex into separate sections, and within the ChatGPT section divides conversations between Chat and Work tabs. As TechCrunch notes, that layering makes it easy to lose track of where a given project actually lives.

The unified view is meant to fix that. According to the email, users will be able to start by exploring an idea and then hand it to ChatGPT to carry through to completion, all in one place. Files and plugins can be brought into the flow, and the assistant can be asked to build a website, assemble a presentation, or take actions on the web while the user reviews and steers what it does.

Codex stays separate, but the token pool doesn't

Codex will remain its own experience within the desktop app, TechCrunch reports. The more consequential change sits under the hood: ChatGPT and Codex will now draw tokens from the same allowance pool. OpenAI said the shift will not affect most users, but depending on their usage and the models involved, some people may need to wait for resets more often than before.

Anthropic moved first

OpenAI is not the first to consolidate. TechCrunch points out that rival Anthropic merged Claude's chat and Cowork functions into a single screen in September, suggesting the industry is converging on the idea that conversation and delegated work belong in the same place.

Why it matters

The merger looks like a small interface tweak, but it carries larger implications. First, it simplifies a product that had accumulated enough modes to confuse its own users, a real cost for a service aimed at a mainstream audience. Second, it reflects where AI assistants are heading: toward agentic workflows in which a chat naturally turns into execution, rather than requiring users to consciously switch into a separate work mode. Third, the shared token pool quietly changes the economics for heavy Codex users, since usage that previously counted against one allowance now counts against both. Finally, it brings OpenAI to parity with Anthropic, which made the same consolidation a month earlier, a sign that interface convergence among AI assistants is now moving as quickly as model convergence.