Last week, OpenAI publicly unveiled details about a suite of internal workplace software tools carefully developed to enhance its own operations. Since this disclosure, speculation across the technology and business communities has intensified, particularly regarding whether the celebrated artificial intelligence startup might eventually evolve into a direct competitor in the broader Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) sector by releasing proprietary software products derived from these internal systems.
To seek clarity on this matter, I attended OpenAI’s flagship DevDay conference on Monday, where Scotty Huhn—a member of the team responsible for creating and maintaining OpenAI’s internal productivity tools—delivered a presentation to a standing-room-only audience. Huhn’s role involves developing applications that strengthen the effectiveness of OpenAI’s Sales, Customer Success, and Operations departments, enabling these teams to function with greater precision, collaboration, and scalability.
During his talk, Huhn introduced three key internal tools currently used within the organization: GTM Assistant, OpenHouse, and Support Agent. Each of these applications plays a distinct role in enhancing OpenAI’s internal efficiency. While Huhn emphasized that these programs are, for now, used solely inside the company, he was asked whether OpenAI might one day commercialize them. Rather than offering a definitive answer, he carefully sidestepped the question, noting that the initiative remains in its earliest stages and that the future direction is still under active exploration.
It is worth remembering that if OpenAI eventually decided to offer such tools as products, it would not be the first company to turn internal innovations into customer-facing solutions. Huhn’s comments indirectly evoke the well-known example of Slack, which began as a side project within the video game company Tiny Speck before transforming into one of the world’s leading workplace communication platforms. The eventual acquisition of Slack by Salesforce in 2020 for nearly $30 billion demonstrated how internal solutions can grow into globally influential enterprises.
Huhn continued by stressing that OpenAI adopts a pragmatic approach to its enterprise software strategy. The company is open-minded about whether to build proprietary systems or purchase existing ones from established providers. When superior solutions already exist on the market, OpenAI is fully willing to adopt them. For instance, he acknowledged that OpenAI relies on Salesforce’s Sales Cloud as the primary “source of truth” for managing its customer relationships, Workday for human resources management, Slack for internal messaging and collaboration, and Databricks for large-scale data warehousing infrastructure. These integrations, he explained, reflect OpenAI’s philosophy of combining in-house AI expertise with best-in-class external technologies.
The first internal tool Huhn presented was GTM Assistant. This application is designed to assist the company’s go-to-market sales teams by amplifying their productivity through AI-driven planning, organization, and preparation. GTM Assistant supports daily operations such as crafting effective meeting strategies, managing potential client interactions, designing customer demonstrations, and coordinating post-meeting follow-ups. Interestingly, much of its embedded capability originates from observing and distilling the specialized knowledge of a particularly skilled human sales employee named Sophie. Her demonstrated best practices and methods were methodically analyzed and integrated into the system, thereby transforming human insight into scalable digital expertise.
Huhn illustrated that another OpenAI employee had previously created over a hundred customer demonstration experiences, which were then used as valuable training data to enhance GTM Assistant’s functionality. The result is an intelligent internal resource capable of generating polished and persuasive demos independently. This knowledge, once confined to a few individuals, has now been disseminated across a team of more than 400 employees. The system also operates as a self-improving loop—staff can flag any missing or inaccurate information, feeding new data back into the tool so it evolves iteratively over time.
Next, Huhn introduced OpenHouse, an in-house human resources and community engagement platform. OpenHouse integrates seamlessly with existing workplace applications such as Slack and Workday, functioning as a connective tissue that helps employees share information, stay up-to-date on company policies, and build a stronger sense of internal community. Huhn cited a concrete example to illustrate its effectiveness: during a recent sales trip to New York, he used OpenHouse to identify colleagues with specific customer knowledge or market expertise relevant to his upcoming client visits. The system quickly generated a list of four or five suitable contacts, one of whom provided valuable insights that significantly improved his preparation and overall meeting outcomes.
The third tool, Support Agent, demonstrates how artificial intelligence can dramatically optimize customer service operations. Huhn showcased a data chart visualizing OpenAI’s support ticket activity over the past year, which revealed notable surges in volume—particularly during the spring, coinciding with the launch of a new image-generation system. A similar spike in incoming requests occurred again in recent weeks. The Support Agent platform was implemented to manage such fluctuations more efficiently by deflecting and resolving customer inquiries through intelligent automation and assisted response mechanisms.
According to Huhn, since its adoption, Support Agent has led to a measurable improvement in the company’s support ticket deflection rate, an indicator of how effectively issues are resolved without requiring extensive manual intervention. Customer satisfaction metrics, including positive user feedback and review scores, have substantially increased as well. One reason for this success is that Support Agent continuously learns from past interactions, embedding valuable service insights directly into the support workflow. Each case contributes to an ongoing evaluation process, ensuring that institutional knowledge accumulates organically and that customer experiences improve progressively over time.
As his presentation concluded, Huhn shifted from discussing specific tools to delivering a broader message about innovation and organizational learning. He encouraged the audience to view these AI solutions not merely as proprietary OpenAI systems but as inspiration for how other companies could harness similar technology to enhance their own operations. Rather than purchasing these particular internal applications, developers were invited to explore OpenAI’s AgentKit service to build customized AI agents tailored to their unique business contexts.
In closing, Huhn emphasized that AI’s most valuable capabilities often originate from human expertise, creativity, and institutional wisdom. The skills embedded in OpenAI’s tools were not conjured from code alone but distilled from exceptional employees—people like Sophie, whose intuition and professionalism served as the blueprint for automation. With a thoughtful nod to this principle, Huhn left the audience with a resonant piece of advice: “Find your Sophie.” In other words, discover within your own organization the individuals whose understanding and experience can be transformed into AI-driven systems that elevate everyone’s performance.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-saas-software-tools-including-openhouse-hr-sales-support-2025-10
