OpenAI releases its first AI Agent! ChatGPT can now do your work for you automatically!

OpenAI has officially announced the launch of a beta feature called Tasks. Whether it's a one-time reminder or a recurring task, now you can simply send a message to the ChatGPT State the need and time and it automates the process. Let's say you can set it to get the weather forecast at 7am every morning, or a regular reminder to walk the dog, among other daily things. Does this sound familiar? Yes, it's similar to Siri on your phone, but with ChatGPT, Tasks is clearly more powerful.

Karina Nguyen, Research Engineer at OpenAI, also showed us a couple of practical examples. You can have ChatGPT check the stock market quotes every day, or you can commission it to create science fiction stories in ChatGPT Canvas on a regular basis and have those stories delivered to your inbox.

If you want to learn English, you can let it urge you to memorize vocabulary every night, and you can also let ChatGPT summarize the latest AI news for you. Don't worry, it can also act as a question writer according to your settings. I tried using this feature to remind me to hydrate regularly, and it actually tasted like an alarm clock.

The Tasks feature is now available in beta to Plus, Pro and Teams users, and will be available to all ChatGPT users. However, OpenAI has not yet clarified the specific time when this feature will be opened for free. Given OpenAI's past history of drawing cakes, it is estimated that there is still some time before it will be opened.

To enable this feature, paid users need to select "4o with scheduled tasks" in the model selector of ChatGPT. All tasks can be managed in the conversation interface or in the Tasks section of the web profile, and can be easily modified or canceled at any time. Once the task is completed, the system will push reminders to users via web, desktop and mobile.Each user can run up to 10 tasks simultaneously.We've also picked up a few noteworthy details from the official OpenAI website. First, the Tasks feature is now supported on ChatGPT web, iOS, Android, and MacOS platforms.However, the Windows version will be available later in the first quarter.Whether triggered on a timed basis (one-time or recurring) or manually through the user interface, ChatGPT performs the preset task regardless of the user's online status until the user will receive a push notification or email alert.

Users have had mixed reactions to this new feature. In addition to all the complaints, a number of users have speculated that Tasks may be a part of the OpenAI Operator X user @kimmonismus opined, "The information seems to be correct, everything is being prepared for the release of 'Operator'."

Meanwhile, Tibor Blaho has also discovered that OpenAI appears to be working on a feature codenamed 'Caterpillar'. It would integrate with Tasks and allow ChatGPT to search for specific information, analyze problems, summarize data, browse websites and access documents - and users would be notified when a task is completed.

Some additional background for those unfamiliar. According to foreign media, Operator is a new AI Agent product that OpenAI plans to launch later this month, and is expected to be able to automate a variety of complex operations, including writing code, booking travel, and automating e-commerce shopping. And, unlike traditional chatbots, Operator will even be able to adjust its behavior based on real-time feedback from users. However, it was previously announced that the launch may be delayed due to serious security vulnerabilities and risks as the content of the screenshots used by Operator in performing its tasks may be maliciously exploited, leading to so-called 'prompt injection attacks'.

In fact, at Developer Day 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that 2025 will be the year of the AI Agent. Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil also mentioned in a Reddit AMA that ChatGPT proactively sending messages to users will also be a key feature in 2025. As of this writing, VentureBeat has also reached out to OpenAI about Tasks and Operator, but the company declined to answer the question, saying only that Tasks is "an AI agent".will be an important step in making ChatGPT a more useful AI companion".