OpenAI Unveils Versatile AI Agent for ChatGPT Users
OpenAI Unveils a Powerful General Purpose Agent for ChatGPT
OpenAI has introduced a new general-purpose AI agent within ChatGPT, designed to handle a broad range of digital tasks for users. This development marks a significant step in making AI more actionable, by moving beyond simple Q&A to completing tasks on users’ behalf.
What Can the New ChatGPT Agent Do?
The ChatGPT agent can perform tasks like:
- Navigating and managing your calendar
- Generating editable presentations and slideshows
- Running code and accessing external apps via APIs
- Browsing websites, collecting data, and synthesizing research
Its capabilities combine previous OpenAI agentic tools: for example, it leverages Operator (for web navigation) and Deep Research (for summarizing information from multiple sources).
How to Access the ChatGPT Agent
The new agent is being rolled out to ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Team subscribers. Activating it is straightforward: users simply select “agent mode” from ChatGPT’s tool menu, then interact using natural language prompts.
Integration with Apps and Tools
One of the agent’s key strengths is its ability to connect with popular applications like Gmail and GitHub, giving it the power to retrieve relevant information or automate workflows. The agent can also access a terminal for code execution and use APIs to interact with supported apps, making it highly adaptable for business and productivity tasks.
Performance Benchmarks
OpenAI reports that the underlying model achieves state-of-the-art results on several challenging benchmarks:
- Humanity’s Last Exam (pass@1): 41.6% (roughly double the previous best models, o3 and o4-mini)
- FrontierMath (with tools): 27.4% (compared to 6.3% for o4-mini)
These improvements demonstrate the agent’s potential for handling complex and diverse tasks.
Safety and Responsible Use
Given its expanded capabilities, OpenAI emphasizes that the agent was developed with safety in mind. The company has put safeguards in place to mitigate potential misuse, but acknowledges that the real-world impact and risks will become clearer as users engage with the tool.
Why This Matters for Businesses
This launch signals a shift toward more autonomous AI-powered productivity tools. Businesses can leverage the ChatGPT agent to automate routine tasks, streamline workflows, and gain actionable insights from data and online sources—all through natural language commands.
Looking Ahead
While many early AI agents struggled with complex tasks, OpenAI’s latest release aims to deliver a more robust and versatile solution. As the technology matures, expect broader integration across business tools and more advanced automation capabilities.
