{
  "id": 4547139,
  "title": "Understanding ChatGPT Work",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/understanding-chatgpt-work",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-31T01:28:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hacker News",
    "slug": "hacker-news",
    "url": "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/30/understanding-chatgpt-work/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On July 9th, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Work, a powerful and confusing product that has been continuously improved since its release. The primary version of ChatGPT Work runs in the cloud, accessible via chatgpt.com or mobile apps under the name Work Cloud. Another version, Work Local, can be accessed through the ChatGPT desktop app, which provides file access and program execution on the user's computer. This article will focus on Work Cloud.\n\nAccess to ChatGPT Work (in both versions) is restricted to subscribers paying $20/month or more; free users and $8/month Go subscribers do not have access. The interface for Work is a tab selector, presenting it as an alternative to Chat. OpenAI suggests using Chat for quick answers, explanations, brainstorming, or short drafts, and Work for tasks requiring a clear outcome, such as briefs, decks, analyses, recurring updates, workflows, or reviewable files.\n\nThe main differences between Chat and Work are the available model options, reasoning levels, and additional features. Chat offers GPT-5.6 Sol, Luna, Terra, and GPT-5.5 at various reasoning levels, while Work provides a wider range of models and reasoning levels. Chat's models include 5.6 Instant, Medium, High, Extra High, and Pro, but Work lacks these options. Ultra, a special mode in Chat, is believed to delegate tasks to sub-agents more eagerly.\n\nOne of the most exciting features of ChatGPT Work is its code execution environment, which can communicate with the internet and execute code. This is a significant improvement over ChatGPT Chat, which is limited in web interaction. Work allows more extensive access to the internet, enabling it to clone GitHub repositories, install dependencies, and interact with websites and APIs that ChatGPT Chat cannot access.\n\nAnother powerful feature of ChatGPT Work is the browser tool, which launches a full Chrome instance, allowing users to load websites, fill out forms, take screenshots, and even run JavaScript against the DOM of loaded pages. This enables users to perform tasks like extracting headings from websites or building entire websites using Cloudflare Workers.\n\nUnlike ChatGPT Chat, which generates a fresh filesystem for each chat session, ChatGPT Work creates a scratch folder for each session, which is persisted across chats. This persistent scratch folder allows users to access files from previous chats, making it a more versatile tool for ongoing projects.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Simon Willison",
        "title": "Understanding ChatGPT Work",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/30/understanding-chatgpt-work",
        "published": "2026-08-30T23:59:47.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}