OpenAI unveils AI agent which can complete tasks on the web autonomously
24 January 2025, 13:34
Operator can use a web browser to carry out tasks – such as booking services or online shops – autonomously once instructed by the user.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI has unveiled a new AI assistant which can carry out tasks on the internet independently once instructed by the user.
Called Operator, it is what is known as an AI agent – AI tools which can autonomously carry out a specific task given to them by the user.
Unveiled during a live demo video, OpenAI boss Sam Altman said Operator can use a web browser to help complete tasks that users give it, for example finding and booking a table at a restaurant or carrying out an online shop based on a photo of a shopping list users share with the tool.
“We think this is going to be a big trend in AI and really impact the work people can do, how productive they can be, what they can accomplish,” Mr Altman said during the announcement live stream.
He added that the tool was still an “early research preview”, but would be made available to users of OpenAI’s 200 dollars a month Pro subscription in the US first.
“We’ve got a lot of improvements to do – we’ll make it better, we’ll make it cheaper, we’ll make it more widely available – but we really want to put it in people’s hands,” Mr Altman said.
“We’ll also have more agents to launch in the coming weeks and months.”
Earlier this month, Mr Altman wrote on his personal blog that he believed 2025 would see the start of AI agents being rolled out by tech firms, and that these tools would “join the workforce and materially change the output of companies”.
In response to concerns in some quarters that AI could disrupt the job market and take roles away from humans, many tech executives and industry figures have instead argued that AI will be used to augment and support human work, taking on mundane and easily automated tasks to free up workers to do other things.
Speaking as it unveiled new AI-powered S25 smartphones this week, Samsung UK and Ireland’s director of mobile experience, Annika Bizon, said the increasing use of AI in mobile devices would help human productivity, not replace it.
“For us, it’s all about giving you the best opportunity to use whatever you want to use in your life in the best possible way,” she told the PA news agency.
“And I think this is a really interesting point around what AI is going to do for the future because it’s going to be a level up.
“Someone said to me, do you think people are going to lose their jobs through AI? No, I think people are going to lose jobs against the person that’s using AI.
“It’s like trying to find something in an encyclopaedia versus using the internet.
“That’s the game change we’re talking about, and for me, that’s incredibly exciting.”
