ChatGPT Active-Task Message Routing Workflow Evaluations and Incident reports

Can a message update the work in progress, wait in a queue for later, or stay in a side thread that does not affect the main chat context? The August 24 contributor occurrence shows a materially positive current capability and a remaining interaction opportunity. The contributor can send mid-run input that is folded into work already underway and explicitly values that improvement. OpenAI release notes document an Update/interrupt behavior for long-running ChatGPT requests that can refine active work without restarting or losing progress. However, the contributor wanted to keep the same active task running unchanged while having a separate conversation and instead used another ChatGPT thread. Independent OpenAI-hosted community requests use the language “temporary side threads,” “do not affect the main chat context,” and “message queue while GPT is generating”; a June 2026 side-thread request received an OpenAI_Support reply saying the feedback would be passed to the team for consideration. OpenAI's Codex materials separately demonstrate ask/discuss/steer interaction during active work and explicitly use queue/steering terminology. This supports a clear reform target without establishing that ChatGPT and Codex share an implementation, that OpenAI has committed to the reform, or that the observed limitation is universal.