By Rolfe Winkler
Sam Altman wants OpenAI to have an app store to rival Apple's. Early tests suggest he's got a long way to go.
If ChatGPT's more than 800 million users want to buy groceries from Instacart, create a playlist with Spotify or find a hike on AllTrails, now they can do so inside the chatbot instead of opening an iPhone app.
That is a baby step toward what some argue could be a massive shift in how we use devices in the age of artificial intelligence: Having chatbots complete tasks instead of typing into smartphone apps. In theory that threatens Apple's impregnable walled garden.
Lucky for the iPhone maker, traditional apps are too capable to be replaced quickly. OpenAI's app strategy, launched this fall, is reminiscent of the early days of ChatGPT: An occasional wow moment surrounded by dysfunction, according to Wall Street Journal tests.
Instacart worked seamlessly. Many other apps can only answer basic questions, and are designed to steer chatbot users back to more capable smartphone apps or websites. Error messages and confusion are common.
In a media interview in December, Altman said people are too focused on the rivalry between ChatGPT and Google's Gemini chatbot. He said his bigger foe is Apple, and OpenAI's ambitious plans bear that out.
ChatGPT is morphing into an operating system. And OpenAI is designing a family of devices with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive. One of those, Altman said, he hopes will replace the iPhone.
Whoever provides the gateway to our favorite online services owns one of the most valuable tollbooths in cyberspace, said Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson. Today that is Apple, and it charges developers hefty fees. As more consumers begin their online journeys talking to a chatbot, OpenAI's position strengthens, he said.
An OpenAI spokeswoman said the company aims to release new products early so consumers and developers can learn how they work. She said OpenAI isn't a company that waits for perfection, instead it improves products rapidly with frequent updates.
The Journal spoke to 12 app developers working with ChatGPT. All said they put their apps inside the chatbot because so many of their own users are there.
"How do these apps get invoked is the question, and could they be invoked from ChatGPT?" said Sachin Kansal, Uber's chief product officer. "But apps still need a place to run, so I don't think the role of Apple or Android gets diminished."
Using Uber's mini-app inside ChatGPT took more time than using the iPhone app, Journal tests showed. It estimates ride costs and ETAs, but can't connect users to a ride directly. A button redirects users to an Uber webpage to book. But then a user must retype pickup and drop-off locations.
Connecting to Uber, as with other ChatGPT apps, was often difficult. Asked to "use the Uber app," ChatGPT said it "can't directly access the Uber app." Users must know to begin their query "@uber" and phrase it precisely. An Uber spokeswoman described its ChatGPT app as a pilot and said the company is experimenting with different ways to best serve consumers.
A priority for smart digital assistants has long been booking restaurant reservations, dating back to when OpenTable was a launch partner for an app called Siri, before Siri was purchased by Apple. When the Journal asked ChatGPT to use OpenTable to make a reservation, it led to error messages. Booking a table via OpenTable's website took seconds.
When the Journal asked ChatGPT to use Tripadvisor to find a cheap ski vacation, maps flashed on screen for 30 seconds before giving error messages. "Tripadvisor is being a little useless," ChatGPT said, backfilling an answer with web search results.
The trick to OpenTable's and TripAdvisor's apps, spokeswomen for the companies said, was to know what they could do and phrase chatbot prompts appropriately. OpenTable is tuned to discover new restaurants and Tripadvisor to compare hotel options.
Yet the point of connecting a chatbot to apps should be to simplify tasks, or have AI complete them itself. Adding extra steps defeats the purpose.
News Corp, owner of the Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI and a commercial agreement to supply news through Apple services.
One of ChatGPT's better app experiences is with Instacart. In one test, ChatGPT created a weekly menu for a family of vegetarians and flawlessly filled a Costco grocery cart with all the ingredients. A checkout button goes directly to a user account on Instacart's webpage, where one can pay and leave delivery instructions for the courier.
Instacart pays a transaction fee to OpenAI based on the value of the basket at checkout, a potentially lucrative way OpenAI can cash in on its popularity.
Instacart's success probably isn't an accident. Before she became a top OpenAI executive this past summer, Fidji Simo was Instacart's chief executive. After switching sides, she broke a development logjam between the two companies.
Instacart's chief technology officer, Anirban Kundu, recalled in an interview how OpenAI's original plan was a nonstarter. The AI company had pushed Instacart to share inventory data so it could work out grocery orders entirely inside ChatGPT. But pricing and availability of perishable goods can change hourly, so Instacart wanted the chatbot to call its servers for real-time data.
When Simo joined OpenAI, her new company acceded to the wishes of her old company, Kundu said. The Instacart team worked out of the OpenAI office, sharing a room and a Slack channel with their OpenAI counterparts while they worked through multiple iterations of the integration over three months, said Kundu.
More integrations like Instacart's should worry Apple. Meanwhile, it is easier to open up an iPhone app.
Write to Rolfe Winkler at Rolfe.Winkler@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 02, 2026 05:30 ET (10:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
