# Where the work happens (/claude-and-chatgpt-2/where-the-work-happens)

---
type: Document
title: "Where the work happens"
description: "Where a job runs when Claude or ChatGPT works on the company's computers, what is kept when it ends, and how your own files are reached."
status: stable
order: 0.11
ksor:
  owner: team:panaversity
  audience: [ public ]
  approval:
    by: process:panaversity
    at: 2026-11-05T15:14:05Z
chapter: "F00"
part: Front
expert_status: required
concepts: [ "Where work happens" ]
last_verified: 2026-11-05
sources:
  - id: sandbox-claude
    title: "Claude Cowork architecture overview (Anthropic, verified 2026-11-05)"
    resource: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/14479288-claude-cowork-architecture-overview
  - id: sandbox-openai
    title: "ChatGPT Work cloud security (OpenAI, verified 2026-11-05)"
    resource: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/enterprise/chatgpt-work-cloud-security
  - id: anthropic-claude-code-cloud
    title: "Use Claude Code in the cloud (Anthropic, verified 2026-11-05)"
    resource: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/claude-code-on-the-web.md
generated:
  at: 2026-11-05T15:14:05Z
  by: process:panaversity
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---

When a job runs on Anthropic's or OpenAI's computers, it does not use your laptop. It uses a separate, isolated computer on the company's servers, set up just for your work. Usually this is a virtual computer: a complete computer simulated in software. Think of it as a borrowed desk in someone else's office: you can work there, but it is not your own.

- **Claude** gives each cloud work session (one stretch of work on Anthropic's computers) its own new, temporary computer. Nobody else uses it. When the session ends, that computer is deleted. Your conversation and the files Claude saved to your account are kept. Anything else left on that computer is gone. It is a clean desk every time.[^sandbox-claude],[^anthropic-claude-code-cloud]
- **ChatGPT** also runs this work on separate, protected computers. It may reuse the same computer from one task to the next, or replace it but keep the saved work, so it can pick up unfinished work later.[^sandbox-openai]

![Where cloud work happens: temporary workspaces, saved results, controlled access to your files. Left, Claude, a separate workspace for each cloud session: session 1 and session 2 each get a temporary workspace, and the conversation and files saved to your account are kept. Each temporary workspace is removed when its session ends. Right, ChatGPT, a cloud workspace may be reused: task 1 and task 2 go to a workspace that may be reused or replaced, and eligible saved state can support continued work. A new task does not always mean a new workspace. A band says cloud workspaces are isolated computing environments, not dedicated physical computers. Two boxes: files only on your laptop need your computer online, an approved connection and permission, while copies uploaded to the cloud can stay available after you close your laptop. At the foot: save important results to your account or download them, and do not rely on temporary workspace files.](img/where-work-happens.png)

Two things follow. First, the borrowed computer cannot reach your laptop by itself. Files you attach or upload are copied to the company's servers, so the work can use them after you close your laptop. Files that stay only on your laptop are used through the desktop app, while it is open. With Claude, it reads them from folders you have allowed. With ChatGPT, the steps that need them run on your own computer. Second, anything you want to keep must come back to you as a saved file. Do not expect it to stay on the borrowed computer.

[^sandbox-claude]: As verified on November 5, 2026, Anthropic says each cloud session gets its own sandbox, "created when the session starts and destroyed when it ends", that sandboxes do not share anything, and that a Code tab cloud session left idle has its computer taken back and gets a fresh one when reopened. Anthropic does not say whether each new task inside the same conversation starts a new session. Claude Cowork architecture overview, Anthropic.
[^anthropic-claude-code-cloud]: Use Claude Code in the cloud, Anthropic.
[^sandbox-openai]: As verified on November 5, 2026, OpenAI says Work's cloud tasks run in "VM-backed sandboxes" and that Work "can reuse an environment across tasks or replace it while preserving eligible state", which "doesn't mean every task receives a new container". ChatGPT Work cloud security, OpenAI.