What is a super app? Understanding the AI industrys newest trend.
Super apps are the latest AI buzzword. What are these super apps, and why are Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic investing in them?
Agentic AI. Claws. Vibe coding. AGI.
AI buzzwords come and go pretty quickly these days, and now there's a new AI trend to know: super apps.
What is a super app?
A super app puts a variety of AI tools into one agentic app. This means that AI chatbots (like ChatGPT) exist within the same space as AI agents, i.e. tools that execute multi-step requests with a degree of autonomy.
The idea is simple: Soon, you'll no longer be bouncing between your AI chatbot, coding assistant, and agentic tools. "Super apps" will centralize all of these tools within a single app. A super app, if you will.
Why are people talking about super apps?
In an earning call this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that a new super app will be central to Microsoft's upcoming AI strategy.
"This quarter, we also introduced Autopilots, autonomous, long-running agents with full enterprise compliance, including an always-on personal agent powered by OpenClaw," Nadella said. "And this quarter we will bring these Copilot experiences together, including Code, in one 'super app' spanning both consumer and commercial experiences."
Nadella said that the super app would be released by the end of summer 2026.
Microsoft isn't leading the charge on super apps; they're just the latest company to hop on the trend. AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, are also focusing efforts on super apps.
As reported by Reuters, OpenAI has already launched its super app to employees. Meanwhile, competitor Anthropic is also combining its agentic Cowork tool with its Claude chatbot, the company recently announced.
Super apps could also accomplish something else for AI companies. Because users can access apps like InstaCart, Uber, Zillow, and OpenTable directly within ChatGPT, these agentic super apps could absorb as much of your online activity as possible into a single company's app.
Elon Musk reportedly wants to turn X into an everything app as well, and with super apps, his biggest AI rivals appear to be moving in the same direction.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.