Reading the Signals: Why Projects Beat GPTs and What's Next
Sometimes platforms offer two features that look identical, and we're left wondering which one to use. The answer isn't in the launch announcement.
It's in watching which feature gets the developers love: that is: upgrades, improvements, new capabilities.
The pattern playing out in ChatGPT
ChatGPT introduced Custom GPTs in late 2023, complete with a GPT Store and hints about monetisation. The pitch was simple: create a custom assistant with instructions and knowledge files, then share it with your team or the world.
About a year later, they released Projects.
At first, Projects looked almost identical. You add instructions, upload files, and start chatting. So why build two nearly identical features?
Here's what happened next. Projects got Deep Research. They got full access to Canvas, agent mode, and all the advanced chat features.
They gained the ability to tap into your account-wide memory or stay isolated with project-only memory. They can now be shared with our entire team or specific team members.
Custom GPTs? They stayed largely frozen. Limited chat features. No Deep Research. Sharing options remained basic: public, team, or private.
What the updates reveal
OpenAI is telling us their priorities through development, not press releases.
Projects are becoming "living workspaces" that learn and sync continuously.
Custom GPTs remain "frozen tools" that don't evolve with your work.
Projects remember their instructions better. They stay grounded because they're connected to ongoing memory. They don't need to be rebuilt and republished every time you make a change, they sync instantly.
For anything other than publishing AI to the world, Projects are now the clear choice for anything within our internal workflow.
The same pattern in Microsoft Copilot
Look at Copilot and you'll see a similar dynamic.
There are Notebooks (personal, with instructions and files) and Agents lite (similar to notebookes, but shareable with our team).
Right now, Notebooks can't be shared with your team. If you want something shareable, you create an Agent lite.
So which feature is getting the love?
My bet is on Agents becoming Copilot's answer to shareable Projects, but the jury is still out.
Worth noting: in Copilot world, administrators can disable agent creation, which may explain why Notebooks exist as a fallback.
Why this matters
Here's the strategic lesson: don't invest based on launch hype. Watch which features get continuous upgrades.
Firms that built extensive workflows around Custom GPTs for internal work now need to rebuild.
Teams that created complex automation to share prompts just discovered Projects do it natively.
We're working with early-stage technology, which means features are still evolving.
When you find yourself building significant custom automation to work around a platform's limitations, pause. If what you are building makes a lot of sense, it might just get built-in within weeks or months.
The platforms are choosing winners right now through their development priorities.
Shareable, permission-controlled workspaces with continuous syncing are replacing static custom tools across all platforms.
Learn to read the signals. It's how you avoid building on yesterday's foundation.
—-
Inbal Rodnay
Guiding Firms in Adopting AI and Automation
Keynote speaker | AI Workshops | Executive briefings | Consulting CIO
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