OpenAI to Launch AI-Powered Jobs Platform in 2026, Certify 10 million Americans by 2030

OpenAI said it will roll out an AI-driven hiring platform in 2026 designed to match businesses with workers who have AI skills, and separately expand its OpenAI Academy to offer certifications that the company aims to deliver to 10 million Americans by 2030.

The announcements signal a major push by the ChatGPT maker into workforce services and training as it broadens its product slate beyond conversational AI.

Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s newly appointed CEO of Applications, said the OpenAI Jobs Platform will use the company’s AI to identify “perfect matches” between employers’ needs and candidates’ abilities. The company told press outlets it expects the service to launch in 2026, with some reports citing a mid-2026 target, and to prioritise helping small businesses and local governments find AI-ready talent as well as serving larger corporate customers.

Jobs Platform & Certification

The hiring service will be tightly linked to OpenAI’s training effort: the expanded OpenAI Academy will offer end-to-end learning paths from basic workplace AI fluency to advanced prompt engineering and will let users prepare for certification inside ChatGPT’s Study mode.

OpenAI said partners for the certification rollout include major employers such as Walmart and John Deere and professional services firms and state groups are also engaged to integrate credentials into hiring and training programmes.

OpenAI named several early collaborators and said the Texas Association of Business plans to use the platform to connect employers with certified workers. The company said it is already talking with large employers and government organisations to embed the certifications in workforce programmes, and pilot courses for the Academy will begin in late 2025.

Competition & Corporate Ties

The move puts OpenAI in direct competition with LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned professional network, which already deploys AI features to match talent and offers learning content. The platforms’ rivalry is complicated by OpenAI’s broader ties to Microsoft: the two firms cooperate commercially while sometimes describing each other as competitors in areas such as search and advertising. OpenAI also has a tangled investor history with figures such as Reid Hoffman, a LinkedIn co-founder who was an early OpenAI investor and left the company’s board in 2023 to avoid conflicts.

Jobs Risk & Company’s Response

OpenAI framed the initiatives as a response to AI-driven labour-market disruption. Fidji Simo acknowledged that AI will transform many roles and that the company cannot erase the displacement it may cause, but said OpenAI can help people become “AI-fluent” and connect them to employers seeking those skills.

The announcement follows warnings from other AI leaders that automation may eliminate a substantial share of entry-level white-collar work by the end of the decade.

The rollout comes as OpenAI expands ties to government: the company has launched OpenAI for Government offerings and disclosed work with US agencies. OpenAI’s growing engagement with public-sector and infrastructure projects underlines how training and certification efforts could dovetail with broader national strategies on AI readiness.