Since its launch, the business case for integrating ChatGPT has been clear: it’s a powerful productivity multiplier. By providing instant answers and solutions, it empowers employees to slash research time, accelerate content creation, and resolve technical problems with greater speed. The core value has always been about driving efficiency. That is, to reduce operational costs and free up staff to focus on more strategic work.
But now, OpenAI is changing this value proposition. Instead of just being a tool for on-demand efficiency, ChatGPT is learning to deliver valuable insights proactively.
On Thursday, the company unveiled ChatGPT Pulse, a new feature it is previewing for Pro users on iOS and Android. OpenAI designed Pulse to anticipate your needs. Each morning, subscribers receive a personalised digest of five to ten updates that ChatGPT generates overnight. It works like a personal research assistant, preparing a daily briefing with news summaries, progress updates, or notes based on your recent activity.
“We’re building AI that lets us take the level of support that only the wealthiest have been able to afford and make it available to everyone over time,” said Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications. “And ChatGPT Pulse is the first step in that direction.”
Evolving the Value Proposition: From Reactive to Proactive
While the on-demand, reactive model offered a strong business case for efficiency, OpenAI is now expanding that value. This represents a strategic shift from a tool you command to an assistant that anticipates. Instead of only saving time during active use, new features like Pulse are designed to leverage asynchronous processing, turning an employee’s downtime into a productive advantage by preparing valuable insights overnight.
In practice, a professional can start their day with a curated digest of industry news, a summary of overnight developments on a key project, or updates on competitor activity; all based on their work patterns. This proactive briefing becomes more valuable over time as users provide feedback, effectively training their personal assistant to sharpen its focus.
This evolution is central to OpenAI’s strategy: transforming ChatGPT from a powerful chatbot into an indispensable digital assistant. It aligns with other professional features, from specialised coding tools to automated agents. Ultimately, this makes ChatGPT a platform that users proactively check in with for a strategic edge, rather than one they simply call upon for isolated tasks.
The Price of Compute
For now, Pulse comes at a steep cost. It is exclusive to subscribers of the $200-a-month Pro plan, OpenAI’s most expensive tier. CEO Sam Altman hinted at this earlier in a post on X:
“Over the next few weeks, we are launching some new compute-intensive offerings. Because of the associated costs, some features will initially only be available to Pro subscribers… But our intention remains to drive the cost of intelligence down as aggressively as we can.”
That reality underscores the infrastructure challenge behind AI products. OpenAI has been candid about the strain on its servers. To scale features like Pulse, it is working with partners including Oracle and SoftBank to build out massive AI data centers. Until then, compute-heavy tools remain gated by subscription fees.
The Strategic Advantage: From Feature to Habit
While Pulse may seem like a simple daily digest, its strategic importance is significant. It represents a fundamental pivot in the product’s design, shifting the perception of AI from a passive utility to a proactive partner. If this model is widely adopted, it could fundamentally alter daily professional routines, positioning ChatGPT as the primary source for a user’s initial briefing over traditional news feeds or social media. This shift in user behavior would have major competitive implications.
OpenAI’s go-to-market strategy is a phased rollout, initially offering this advanced capability to paying subscribers. The long-term vision is to expand access as the technology becomes more efficient, but for now, it serves as a preview of a future where the AI platform doesn’t just respond to queries but actively helps set the user’s daily agenda.
For OpenAI, the ultimate goal of this proactive future is user stickiness. By evolving from an on-demand tool into a daily ritual, ChatGPT has the potential to become the first application professionals check each morning. This is more than just a product upgrade; it is a strategy to embed the platform into the very fabric of a user’s workflow. In the modern attention economy, forging that essential daily habit may be OpenAI’s most valuable and defensible competitive advantage.
