The OpenAI API lets developers send requests from their own code to OpenAI's models and get back text, images, audio or structured data.
In plain words
Instead of typing into ChatGPT, a program sends a request over the internet with a secret API key and gets the model's reply back. The same platform covers text generation, understanding images, making images, audio, reasoning models and agents that call tools. You can also ask for replies that follow a JSON schema, which makes them easy for code to read.
A quick example
Imagine a recipe app. When a user types the ingredients they have, the app sends them to the API with an instruction to suggest three dishes as JSON. The app then shows those dishes as cards, without the user ever seeing the raw model reply.
Where you'll meet it
- Chatbots, writing tools and coding assistants built by other companies.
- Apps that need to read images or transcribe audio.
Related
Sources
- DocsOpenAI API Platform Documentation, OpenAI · read 29 Sept 2026
- DocsDeveloper quickstart, OpenAI · read 29 Sept 2026
- DocsText generation, OpenAI · read 29 Sept 2026
Checked by WhatIsAI against the sources above · 29 Sept 2026. Spotted an error? Report it.