OpenAI reportedly developing collaborative ‘Spaces’ environments ahead of DevDay

OpenAI used its DevDay 2026 event in San Francisco to push deeper into the territory that matters most to enterprise customers: getting humans and AI agents to actually work together in the same room, metaphorically speaking. The company showcased “Spaces,” described as collaborative environments where users and AI agents can jointly generate and refine content.

The event, held at Fort Mason on September 29, featured CEO Sam Altman delivering an opening keynote focused squarely on developer tools, AI agents, and the infrastructure needed to make collaborative AI workflows practical rather than theoretical.

From Canvas to Spaces: OpenAI’s collaboration roadmap

Spaces represents the next logical step in a product trajectory OpenAI has been building for years. The company first introduced Canvas in 2024, a tool that let users and AI edit documents simultaneously. Shared projects followed in 2025, expanding the concept beyond single documents into broader collaborative workflows.

Then came Workspace Agents, which became generally available across ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans in mid-2026. Those agents, powered by Codex, plugged directly into platforms like Slack to facilitate shared team workflows.

The DevDay agenda reinforced this direction with sessions covering coding agents, persistent agents, and multi-agent systems.

What Spaces could mean for developers

OpenAI has also been investing in group chats within ChatGPT, another feature aimed at making AI collaboration feel less like talking to a machine and more like working with a team.

The enterprise play

Workspace Agents already demonstrated this with Slack integration, meeting enterprise users where they already spend their time. Spaces extends that philosophy into more creative and generative workflows, potentially competing with tools from companies like Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft.

It is worth noting that no product named “Spaces” has been formally confirmed or detailed in DevDay 2026 discussions; ongoing development is reported, leaving room for speculation about the full feature set.

Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest backer, has been building its own collaborative AI features through Copilot across the Office suite. Google has Gemini woven into Workspace.

DevDay sessions on persistent agents and multi-agent systems suggest OpenAI sees the future of AI as fundamentally collaborative rather than conversational.