OpenAI has released a major update to its ChatGPT "Atlas" browser for Mac, introducing an AI-native browsing experience that deeply integrates ChatGPT capabilities into every aspect of web navigation. This update signals OpenAI's ambition to redefine how users interact with the internet through conversational AI.

Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, seeking damages between $79 billion and $134 billion. He alleges that OpenAI abandoned its original non-profit mission to benefit humanity after forming a deep partnership with Microsoft for profit, constituting "fraud" and "unjust enrichment" from his foundational contributions. A jury trial is set for April 2026.

In a significant strategic shift, OpenAI announced today the upcoming test of targeted advertisements within ChatGPT and the global rollout of its lower-cost "ChatGPT Go" subscription, starting at $8 per month in the U.S. The move aims to diversify revenue streams amid high operational costs, while premium tiers will remain ad-free.

On January 15, 2026, OpenAI announced its participation as the lead investor in Merge Labs' $252 million seed round, valuing the stealth-mode brain-computer interface (BCI) startup at $850 million. Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Merge Labs is developing safe, high-bandwidth, non-invasive BCIs using ultrasound and molecular approaches instead of implanted electrodes. The collaboration includes joint work on scientific foundation models to accelerate neuroscience and device engineering, positioning Merge Labs as a direct rival to Elon Musk's Neuralink while aiming to create seamless, human-centered AI interaction.

On January 14, 2026, OpenAI announced a landmark multi-year compute agreement valued at over $10 billion with Sirius, the emerging hyperscale AI infrastructure provider backed by major sovereign funds and tech giants. The deal grants OpenAI exclusive access to hundreds of thousands of next-gen Blackwell B300 GPUs across dedicated clusters in the US, Europe, and Asia, significantly accelerating training timelines for GPT-5 and beyond. This pact not only eclipses previous Microsoft and Oracle deals in scale but also signals the explosive commoditization of frontier AI compute — and the birth of a new class of “AI-native” data center empires.

On January 12, 2026, OpenAI announced the acquisition of healthcare startup Torch — a tiny 4-person team building a "unified medical memory" engine that aggregates fragmented patient data from hospitals, labs, wearables, doctor visits, and consumer apps into one AI-readable context layer. The deal, reportedly valued at roughly $60 million (with some sources citing up to $100M in equity), comes just days after OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, enabling users to securely connect personal medical records for more personalized, grounded responses. Torch's founders and team will join OpenAI to accelerate integration, marking the company's aggressive push into consumer healthcare amid fierce competition from Google and Anthropic.

On January 8, 2026, OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Health — a secure, standalone health-focused conversation space integrated directly into ChatGPT. This new feature allows users to privately upload and link personal health records (lab results, wearables data, medical notes, etc.), enabling the model to provide highly contextual, personalized health suggestions, symptom analysis, lifestyle recommendations, and preventive insights — all while maintaining strict HIPAA-grade privacy controls and zero data training usage. Early feedback from beta users highlights dramatic improvements in daily health management and chronic condition tracking.

On December 26, 2025, SoftBank Group officially completed its promised $22.5 billion additional investment in OpenAI, fulfilling a March commitment for up to $40 billion total (including co-investors). This massive cash infusion — routed through Vision Fund 2 — elevates SoftBank's stake to approximately 11%, making it OpenAI's second-largest investor behind Microsoft. Amid soaring AI infrastructure costs and OpenAI's push toward AGI, this deal underscores Son's aggressive pivot, achieved through asset sales, loans against Arm shares, and ruthless portfolio pruning.

OpenAI launched GPT-5.2 on December 13, 2025 — its most agentic model yet, with native multi-step planning, persistent memory across sessions, and seamless integration into productivity suites. Early enterprise pilots report average knowledge workers saving 10+ hours weekly on repetitive tasks like email triage, report drafting, meeting summaries, and code reviews. Now rolling out to ChatGPT Plus/Pro/Team users, GPT-5.2 marks the shift from "helpful assistant" to "autonomous coworker."

In a move that redefines the interface of human-AI interaction, OpenAI has officially launched a beta version of ChatGPT Collaborative Rooms for select regions. This groundbreaking feature enables multiple human users and AI agents to participate in a single, persistent conversation thread, aiming to facilitate complex group discussions, brainstorming, and joint decision-making processes. This represents a significant evolution from one-on-one AI assistance to a structured, collaborative digital workspace.