OpenAI Launches Operator: ChatGPT’s New Task Automation Feature

NEW YORK, N.Y. — OpenAI unveiled a groundbreaking feature for its ChatGPT chatbot on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2024, called Operator, designed to automate everyday tasks such as planning vacations, filling out forms, and making reservations. The announcement was made during OpenAI CEO Sam Altman‘s appearance on Fox Business Network‘s “Making Money With Charles Payne.”

Operator is described as “an agent that can go to the web to perform tasks for you,” according to OpenAI. The tool is trained to interact with web elements like buttons, menus, and text fields, enabling it to complete tasks independently. It can also ask follow-up questions to personalize its actions, such as requesting login details for specific websites. Users retain the ability to take control of the screen at any time.

“Operator is one of our first agents, which are AIs capable of doing work for you independently,” OpenAI stated in a blog post. “You give it a task, and it will execute it.”

Currently, Operator is available exclusively to ChatGPT Pro users at Operator.ChatGPT.com. OpenAI plans to expand access to Plus, Team, and Enterprise users in the future and integrate the feature directly into ChatGPT. However, the company acknowledged that Operator still faces challenges with tasks like managing calendars and creating slideshows.

OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, emphasized user privacy, allowing users to opt out of data collection for model training by disabling the “Improve the model for everyone” setting. Users can also delete browsing data and log out of all sites with a single click in the privacy section.

Operator enters a competitive landscape dominated by Anthropic, an AI startup backed by Google. In October, Anthropic introduced a similar capability for its Claude chatbot, enabling it to perform complex tasks by interpreting computer screens and navigating websites. Jared Kaplan, Anthropic’s chief science officer, described the tool as capable of handling tasks with “tens or even hundreds of steps.”

The generative AI market, which includes OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, is projected to generate significant revenue within the next decade. Google recently invested over $1 billion in Anthropic, and the startup is reportedly in late-stage talks to raise an additional $2 billion led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

OpenAI’s announcement aligns with its broader push toward artificial general intelligence (AGI), a concept referring to AI systems that match or exceed human intelligence across diverse tasks. Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang predicts AGI could be achieved within two to four years, defining it as “powerful AI systems that are able to use a computer just like you or I could.”