OpenAI on Thursday unveiled a new service designed to help companies build, deploy, and manage artificial intelligence agents—software tools capable of carrying out specific tasks such as debugging code or automating workflows. The launch underscores how OpenAI launches a new AI agent service in a bid to draw more business customers, as competition for enterprise clients heats up across the AI industry.
The platform, called Frontier, is part of a broader strategy by OpenAI to expand its footprint among large organizations. Enterprise adoption has become a key battleground, especially as rivals like Anthropic generate a significant share of their revenue from corporate customers. OpenAI has been open about this shift in priorities, with CEO Sam Altman previously describing enterprise growth as a major focus for the company.
A Growing Rivalry in the AI Race
The competition between OpenAI and Anthropic now stretches well beyond product launches. Both companies are reportedly preparing for public offerings, setting the stage for a high-profile contest for investor attention. The rivalry has also spilled into marketing, with the two firms set to run competing advertisements during the Super Bowl.
Anthropic’s commercial appears to take a subtle swipe at OpenAI’s decision to introduce advertising into ChatGPT—a move that sparked internal debate and public commentary. Altman addressed the spot on social media, calling it humorous but “clearly dishonest,” signaling just how tense the relationship between the two AI leaders has become.
Designed for Faster Enterprise Adoption
OpenAI executives say Frontier is built to integrate smoothly with a company’s existing technology stack, while also supporting AI agents developed by third parties. This flexible design, they argue, could lower barriers to adoption and speed up how quickly businesses roll out AI-driven tools across their operations.
Fidji Simo, who leads OpenAI’s product and business teams as CEO of applications, said the goal is to make AI agents far easier for enterprises to activate and manage. According to her, Frontier represents an “intelligence layer” that allows organizations to switch on AI agents with minimal friction, regardless of their current infrastructure.
With Frontier, OpenAI is signaling that the next phase of the AI boom will be defined not just by powerful models, but by how easily businesses can put those models to work at scale.
