OpenAI plans to double its workforce to 8,000 employees by the end of 2026

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, is preparing for a major expansion of its team from the current 4,500 to 8,000 employees. 

According to a March 21, 2026, report by the Financial Times, the growth strategy focuses on strengthening the engineering, research, product development, and direct sales departments. Particular emphasis will be placed on recruiting technical ambassadors to help the corporate sector integrate AI tools into business processes.

This decision is driven by increased competition from Anthropic, whose chatbot Claude is highly popular among business clients. Statistics show that new corporate users are 70% more likely to choose Anthropic’s solutions for their first purchase of AI services. OpenAI aims to reverse this trend by scaling up its team to develop new features and promote its products more aggressively in the market.

This expansion is taking place against the backdrop of a global technology race, where system stability and the quality of customer support are becoming decisive factors. While Russia is attempting to develop its own closed-source AI models for military purposes, leading Western labs are focusing on commercial dominance and building ecosystems around large language models. OpenAI expects that nearly doubling its workforce will allow the company to maintain its leadership and accelerate the release of new iterations of its models.

We also reported that OpenAI acknowledged users’ dependence on ChatGPT, which is replacing live communication.

The introduction of artificial intelligence in the workplace is forcing many office workers to operate under constant stress and uncertainty. This was stated by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, commenting on the impact of rapid technological development on the modern labor market.