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This new platform, with its focus on certifying the small group of professionals who design AI systems, is a curious counterpoint to the company’s own admission that AI will automate millions of routine jobs.
This piece explores the implications of this new venture for the broader job market, from traditional universities to tech-focused learning platforms like Coursera and Udemy. It also examines the potential strain on OpenAI’s already complex relationship with Microsoft and questions the long-term viability of an AI-only platform if the tech world’s attention shifts to new frontiers like quantum computing or biotechnology.
What is OpenAI planning, and how?
On 4 September, Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, announced the OpenAI Jobs Platform, a site designed to match skilled candidates with employers ranging from multinational corporations to local governments.
A key element of this new venture is OpenAI Certifications, which will verify a candidate’s proficiency in AI, from basic literacy to advanced prompt engineering. The company aims to replace the common practice of employees self-reporting their AI skills with a more credible, performance-based assessment. The certifications will have training built directly into ChatGPT itself, allowing users to prepare for and complete their certification within the app.
OpenAI is hoping to certify 10 million Americans by 2030 as part of a commitment to the White House’s AI literacy initiatives.
To support this goal, OpenAI has forged a broad array of partnerships. The company is collaborating with job platform Indeed; major employers like Walmart, the world’s largest private employer; and agricultural manufacturer John Deere; consultancies such as Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Accenture; and a range of community and state partners, including the Texas Association of Business, the Bay Area Council and the Delaware governor’s office.
The rationale behind the platform
OpenAI’s new venture is set against a backdrop of significant shifts in the global labour market. A January report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) projects that while 170 million new jobs will be created this decade, the same trends will displace 92 million roles.
While the fastest-growing job categories include farmworkers, delivery drivers, and construction workers, the WEF report also highlights a rapid increase in demand for roles driven by technology. These include jobs for big data specialists, fintech engineers and AI and machine learning specialists. A separate PwC report from June found that, on average, workers with AI skills earn significantly higher wages.
OpenAI’s platform aims to capitalize on this growing demand. The company believes its AI-powered training model is more effective for building skills than traditional “click-through certifications”. By integrating training directly into ChatGPT’s Study mode, OpenAI says it will “use AI to teach AI”. The company hopes to encourage businesses to integrate these certifications into their internal learning and development programmes.
But isn’t OpenAI addressing a problem it and Big Tech created?
The launch of OpenAI’s jobs platform highlights a central paradox: The company is building a solution for a problem that it, and other major tech firms, helped create. As AI’s capabilities grow, particularly with the rise of agentic AI that can make autonomous decisions, its potential to disrupt existing business models and make human roles redundant becomes more acute.
This isn’t a new concern. In 2020, the World Economic Forum predicted that while AI would create 97 million new jobs by 2025, it would displace 85 million in the same period. The outlook for 2030 is even more severe, with Goldman Sachs projecting 300 million global job displacements and McKinsey & Co. estimating as many as 800 million, depending on the speed of AI adoption.
A recent Stanford University paper, Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence, offers a more immediate warning. The report found that early-career workers aged 22-25 in AI-exposed occupations have already seen a 13% relative decline in employment.
It adds that these declines are concentrated in roles where AI is more likely to automate human labour, rather than simply augment it. In this light, an AI-focused jobs platform appears designed to serve those who build and use AI, not the millions whose livelihoods are most at risk of being automated away.
Will this strain relations with Microsoft?
OpenAI’s new venture could further complicate its relationship with Microsoft. Despite being its closest partner and biggest backer, OpenAI has chosen to partner with Indeed, a pure-play job board with 615 million profiles, rather than Microsoft’s LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network with over 1.1 billion members.
While LinkedIn combines networking, content, and hiring, Indeed focuses on job listings and search. This makes Indeed a less direct competitor to OpenAI’s platform. However, the irony remains: Microsoft has invested an estimated $13 billion in OpenAI, and now must watch its partner build a hiring marketplace that will inevitably compete with its own professional jobs portal.
If OpenAI’s platform gains traction in premium AI roles, it could siphon off a lucrative segment of the talent market, putting Microsoft and its investors in an awkward position. The relationship is already tense, with Microsoft, under the leadership of AI head Mustafa Suleyman, developing its own foundational AI models to lessen its dependence on OpenAI.
What about algorithm-driven assessment risks?
OpenAI’s new platform could position the company as a gatekeeper for the future of AI-powered work. The company says its AI will create “perfect matches” between companies and job candidates, but if widely adopted, this model concentrates power in a single platform.
The same company that is reshaping jobs with its AI models would also be responsible for allocating talent through its matching and assessment algorithms.
This raises a number of concerns. If the platform gains traction, there is a risk that opaque algorithms could determine a candidate’s visibility and even salary. Furthermore, the platform’s focus on AI-centric skills could disadvantage workers and regions with limited access to upskilling, as AI engineering talent is already concentrated in a handful of economies. This could widen existing gaps in economic opportunity.
However, competition from established players like LinkedIn, online learning platforms such as Coursera and Udemy, and specialized sites like GitHub and Kaggle may help keep OpenAI’s platform in check.
And what about trust?
The rise of AI has led to a surge in professionals claiming AI skills on platforms like LinkedIn, but many of these are self-reported and unverified. This creates a market need for credible credentials.
Micro-credentials are gaining traction. A 2024 Coursera survey found that 93% of higher-education leaders believe these certifications help meet employer demand for specific skills. A 2025 study by the Lumina Foundation also found that a majority of employers see micro-credentials as a competitive advantage and are willing to pay a premium for certified candidates. Google Career Certificates are already accepted as degree substitutes at over 150 companies.
However, scepticism remains among some employers who worry that online certifications can be earned through cheating. This is where OpenAI hopes to gain an edge. The company plans to use performance-based assessments—such as live tasks and code reviews—with auditable scoring to ensure the legitimacy of its certifications.
In response, universities will likely begin embedding vendor-agnostic AI literacy and co-branded micro-credentials into their degree programs to avoid ceding this space entirely.
Will an AI-only platform last?
A platform built exclusively for AI jobs risks becoming obsolete if the technology landscape shifts. Unlike LinkedIn, which is industry-agnostic, OpenAI’s marketplace is narrowly tied to the current AI boom. If the next wave of innovation focuses on fields like quantum computing or biotechnology, a single-vertical platform could quickly lose relevance.
OpenAI is reportedly planning a staged rollout through mid-2026, which would give it time to expand beyond core AI roles into adjacent functions like operations, marketing, and eventually general hiring.
To survive the fast-moving tech cycle, OpenAI will have to adapt. It could expand horizontally into new domains using its existing AI-driven tools, remain a valuable but niche “AI guild”, or position itself as a white-label infrastructure provider that powers other vertical marketplaces. The company’s ability to pivot will be critical to its long-term success.
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