OpenAI president calls new ChatGPT interface 'a mess' — app design to be reworked again

OpenAI president Greg Brockman acknowledged in an interview with WSJ's Joanna Stern that the redesigned desktop ChatGPT interface has been 'partly a mess', but described it as a gradual step toward the future. In July, OpenAI merged the Codex programming tool and the Work AI agent into the ChatGPT app, causing user complaints: the usual ChatGPT and chat history were pushed to the background, past chats and Projects section became harder to find, and the app's size grew from 159 MB to 1.5 GB. OpenAI has already restored the sidebar with chat history and Projects, and added a switch between Chat and Work modes. Brockman said the company plans to eliminate the separate Work tab by the end of the year and integrate its functions directly into ChatGPT. Despite criticism, Codex audience grew from 5 to 10 million users within days. In March, OpenAI announced merging ChatGPT, Codex platform, and Atlas browser into a single desktop app, and in July it said Atlas would be shut down because search is now built into the app. OpenAI also continues investing heavily in infrastructure: in April it raised a record $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation, and in late June The New York Times reported a possible IPO postponed to 2027, targeting a valuation of at least $1 trillion.