DEWA integrates customer services into ChatGPT Apps directory

DEWA wiring core customer interactions into the ChatGPT Apps Directory is a small but telling example of how AI assistants are becoming a front‑end for real public services, not just information lookup. When a major utility lets residents check bills and find EV chargers through a general‑purpose model, it normalizes the idea that a single conversational interface can broker interactions across multiple critical infrastructure providers.

Strategically, this is as much about data and lock‑in as it is about convenience. Every time a government or quasi‑government entity standardizes on a particular assistant, it deepens that model’s understanding of local processes and creates switching costs for both citizens and agencies. For OpenAI, being first with a flagship Gulf utility strengthens its pitch to other public‑sector clients that want to “meet citizens where they already chat.”

From an AGI‑race perspective, these deployments quietly expand the real‑world action surface of large models. The more day‑to‑day decisions—bill disputes, payment reminders, routing to physical infrastructure—flow through assistants, the more pressure there will be to give those models greater autonomy and context to act. That, in turn, will demand more robust safety, identity and audit frameworks around what an AI front‑end for essential services is allowed to do.