OpenAI introduced a program called ChatGPT for Small Business on July 21, aiming to help small business owners fold OpenAI’s AI tools into everyday tasks such as bookkeeping, marketing, and running an online store.
What the program includes
The initiative bundles four elements, according to OpenAI: product-specific webinars that walk through accounting, marketing, and e-commerce workflows; in-person “OpenAI Academy” sessions being held across the United States; beginner guides and customer case studies; and a set of partner integrations built specifically for smaller teams. Businesses that sign up get access to skills and promotional offers from six launch partners — Dropbox, Shopify, Intuit, Slack, Atlassian, and Wix — covering files, commerce, financial tasks, communication, and project management.
The program is built around ChatGPT Work, the agentic tool OpenAI folded Codex into earlier this month, which runs on GPT-5.6. OpenAI describes it as “our most advanced model available to businesses of any size” and says the goal is to make “enterprise-grade” AI “accessible and affordable” for companies without in-house engineering teams — a different audience than the enterprise-focused rollout behind Presence, OpenAI’s other recent agent platform.
Why now
OpenAI says ChatGPT Work and Codex together have reached 10 million users, roughly double the Codex-only count from earlier in July, and it’s betting the small-business market can sustain similar growth. The company points to research from Citadel Securities, cited around the announcement, showing that new U.S. business formation has risen since ChatGPT’s debut while median headcounts at seed-stage startups have shrunk — a dynamic OpenAI is positioning the program to reinforce further.
As a track record, OpenAI cites last year’s Small Business AI Jams events: 78% of attendees built a working AI workflow in a single day, and 42% said they saved more than five hours a week afterward.
How it works
Sign-ups are open now, with webinars and in-person academies rolling out on an ongoing schedule rather than a single launch date.