OpenAI has launched what may become its most consequential product to date — the ChatGPT Agent — a tool that pushes the boundaries of artificial intelligence far beyond conversation.
This newly unveiled system, now available to ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Team subscribers, is not just answering questions or offering suggestions. It performs real-world tasks: managing emails, generating slide decks, booking trips, running code, and navigating digital tools like a trained assistant.
The release marks a sharp escalation in the AI arms race, signaling that the contest is no longer about who can talk smarter, but about who can act faster.
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This evolution introduces what the AI field now calls “agentic AI” — a branch of artificial intelligence focused not only on responding to prompts but on executing multi-step instructions independently, across a wide range of domains.
OpenAI’s latest system takes on that challenge with a model that can read, reason, and act in sequence. The agent operates like a digital worker, capable of logging into tools like Gmail or Google Calendar, reading PDF documents, using APIs, interacting with spreadsheets, and even running commands in a secure virtual terminal. In practice, it means you could instruct the system to “analyze this report, summarize key insights, and draft a presentation for investors,” and the agent will do it — step by step, with minimal supervision.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, described the tool as “the most capable, useful, and reliable AI system we’ve ever released,” emphasizing that the agent is designed to think for long stretches, perform tasks using tools, and then rethink or correct itself. This approach reflects OpenAI’s belief that the future of AI isn’t static answers but autonomous action — software that gets things done.
The implications stretch far beyond personal convenience. The arrival of capable AI agents introduces a paradigm shift in how work — particularly knowledge work — will be conducted. This development follows months of internal experiments and limited tests, including OpenAI’s now-defunct “Operator” project, where early agents controlled actual user desktops and navigated web browsers and documents on their behalf. That experiment laid the foundation for what has now become the ChatGPT Agent — a streamlined, polished interface capable of everything from file analysis to automated web navigation.
The timing is crucial. Over the past six months, a growing number of companies have started developing or previewing their own agent-based systems. Google has teased its advanced Project Astra assistant, Anthropic has introduced new planning and tool-using capabilities into its Claude model, Perplexity AI has begun testing autonomous search agents, and Meta has laid the groundwork for integrating agent-like functionality across its apps. Meanwhile, startups like Adept and Rabbit are also staking claims in what many now describe as the most promising frontier of generative AI.
Until recently, much of the AI race centered on improvements in natural language processing and creativity — tools that could write, translate, summarize, or generate images. But the focus is shifting to AI systems that can plan and execute: software that performs jobs typically reserved for junior analysts, executive assistants, researchers, and even developers. ChatGPT Agent can write and run code, issue terminal commands, fetch and summarize emails, draft reports, create calendars, extract data from PDFs, and interact with online tools — all through a natural language prompt.
OpenAI says its agent delivers a significant performance jump. On HumanEval+, a benchmark that tests programming and reasoning, the new system scores 41.6 percent — nearly double that of the previous generation (GPT-4o’s o3 model). In mathematical reasoning benchmarks like FrontierMath, the agent achieved 27.4 percent, highlighting its ability to chain reasoning and tool usage to solve complex problems.
Altman described the release as a preview of a new era, where users simply specify a goal, and the AI handles the execution, complete with intermediate reasoning and course corrections.
“You ask for an outcome, and the system does the work,” he said. That, he added, is where the real value lies: making AI useful in everyday, high-skill, and high-pressure workflows.
But OpenAI is also urging caution. The company considers this release an “experimental and high-capability” deployment. While the tool is intended for safe use, the fact that it can run code, make API calls, or access sensitive user data means that the stakes are higher. OpenAI has issued safety warnings for the agent’s use in biological and chemical contexts, noting that while no current misuse has been observed, its capabilities could potentially be applied in dangerous ways as it matures.
To manage this risk, the company says it has embedded multiple layers of safety mechanisms. These include prompt monitoring for flagged content, rate limits on tool usage, and real-time human-in-the-loop monitoring for sensitive operations. Users are also urged to limit the agent’s access to only what is necessary, giving it permission to access a folder, an inbox, or an app, rather than their entire digital life. OpenAI calls this the “minimum privilege model,” designed to reduce the risk of runaway or unintended actions.
Still, even in its early form, the agent is already changing how users interact with AI. Some have used it to plan weddings, produce investor decks, or automate research tasks that would have taken hours. Others are using it to refactor codebases, generate documentation, or summarize long documents.
Internally, the ChatGPT Agent builds on several foundational layers: browsing tools for real-time web access, code interpreters for logic and automation, file readers, plug-in integrations, and a secure virtual environment where it executes commands. These elements were previously available in isolation to Pro users — now they are fused into a single, autonomous system that can decide which tools to use and when.
What this really represents is OpenAI’s first serious attempt at building a co-worker, not just a chatbot. And as competition intensifies, the pressure will rise on other companies to respond.
Google is expected to release a more advanced version of its assistant within the next year, and Anthropic is already experimenting with agents that can simulate memory and long-term project tracking. Meta’s upcoming models are also expected to include an agent layer capable of managing in-app experiences across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Each of these efforts points to a single trajectory: AI that doesn’t just converse but takes over work.
“Watching ChatGPT Agent use a computer to do complex tasks has been a real “feel the agi” moment for me; something about seeing the computer think, plan, and execute hits different,” Altman said.
OpenAI has launched ChatGPT agent, a powerful AI tool that can perform complex, multistep tasks using “its own virtual computer.” Built on a custom model combining the company’s Operator and Deep Research tools, the new agent is capable of things such as creating slide decks and generating spreadsheets. It’s designed to work in the background and request confirmation before taking “actions of consequence,” like sending an email. Artificial intelligence agents are increasingly being marketed and used internally by other tech giants.