OpenAI Launches New AI Agent Tool 'Operator'

OpenAI has unveiled its first artificial intelligence (AI) agent, named Operator. The AI agent, currently released as a "research preview," performs web-based tasks on behalf of users. Right now, only ChatGPT Pro users in the US can access Operator. However, the AI firm is looking to expand this feature to other subscription tiers soon.

"Operator is one of our first agents, which are AIs capable of doing work for you independently—you give it a task and it will execute it," said the ChatGPT maker in a blog post on Thursday. OpenAI also highlighted that the AI agent can be asked to handle a wide variety of repetitive browser tasks, including filling out forms, ordering groceries, and even creating memes.

Operator is built around a new model called Computer-Using Agent (CUA). Combining GPT-4o's vision capabilities with advanced reasoning through reinforcement learning, CUA is trained to interact with graphical user interfaces (GUIs)—the buttons, menus, and text fields people see on a screen. “AI agents are AI systems that can do work for you independently. You give them a task, and they go off and do it, said Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, during a livestream.