No update from OpenAI surprises me anymore!

In a company blog post on September 4, OpenAI said it’s building an AI-matching Jobs Platform to connect employers with “AI-savvy” candidates, including a track for small businesses and local governments.

But that’s not all. OpenAI also laid out the training behind that marketplace. Through OpenAI Academy and a new Study mode inside ChatGPT, it plans to offer certifications that signal real AI fluency. Together, it feels like a two-part push: skills you can prove, then a platform where those skills meet jobs.

The company says this is about proof of work and it wants to certify 10 million Americans by 2030. They even listed some of the early partners like Walmart, BCG, Accenture, Indeed, the Texas Association of Business, and the Delaware governor’s office.

You can think of it as a loop. You learn inside Academy or Study mode and earn a credential that shows what you can do. Then you get surfaced to employers in a marketplace that weights verified skills. Better signal in. Better matches out.

Now here’s the issue: this naturally lands in LinkedIn’s lane. Reporting frames the Jobs Platform as a direct competitor, and OpenAI’s own language supports that reading. An OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch the certifications pilot is targeted for late 2025, and the Jobs Platform is aiming for mid-2026. Those dates set expectations without over-promising the near term.

What does this change for you? If you hire, it promises faster shortlists, clearer take-home tasks, and less resume theater. If you’re a candidate, it offers a path to prove capability and be found for it. The value only shows up if both sides show up, which is why the partner list and scale targets matter.

There is a Microsoft question in the background. Microsoft owns LinkedIn and is still OpenAI’s biggest partner. But the ties are looser than they were. Microsoft gave up its OpenAI board-observer seat in July 2024. The U.K. CMA said in March 2025 that the partnership does not qualify as a merger. And in 2025 OpenAI added Google Cloud as a supplier to diversify compute. Net result: the partnership continues, while OpenAI has room to ship products that might overlap with Microsoft businesses.

Obviously, some pieces are still missing. OpenAI has not shared pricing for employers, a public waitlist, or how profiles might integrate with places like GitHub, Kaggle, or LinkedIn. Those details were not in the announcement or the initial press coverage. We will learn more as the pilot firms up. OpenAITechCrunch

If you want to prepare now, keep it simple. Hiring teams should write one short task that mirrors real work and lines up with a certificate level. Job-seekers should assemble a small portfolio: a few before-and-after wins, a clean notebook or agent flow, and a one-page impact note. When the pilot opens, you will have something concrete to point to.

Milestones in one line: Certifications pilot late 2025. Jobs Platform target mid-2026.