Latest news with #DeepResearch
Tahawul Tech
9 hours ago
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
OpenAI upgrades the ChatGPT platform
OpenAI has introduced a new AI agent for the ChatGPT platform, expanding the chatbot's capabilities to manage more complex and multi-step tasks. The new agentic system builds on the company's earlier features including Operator, which enabled ChatGPT to interact with websites, and its in house Deep Research offering, designed for carrying out in-depth, multi-step tasks. With the update, these capabilities have been integrated into a single, more powerful agentic system dubbed ChatGPT agent, enabling the model to independently complete complex tasks by switching between reasoning and action. The update allows ChatGPT to autonomously handle tasks such as preparing slide decks, summarising emails, analysing competitors, or booking travel. The agent can browse websites, run code, interact with APIs and generate editable content outputs like spreadsheets or presentations. To deliver these services, the AI agent uses a virtual computer with web access and a suite of tools. It can also connect with third-party apps including Gmail and GitHub, enabling it to retrieve relevant information based on user prompts. In a statement, OpenAI emphasised safeguards with the latest update aimed at upholding security, including 'watch mode' for active user supervision of critical tasks like sending emails, and ChatGPT agent seeking explicit user permission before executing consequential actions. The upgrade is now available for Pro, Plus and Team subscribers, with enterprise and education users set to receive access in the coming weeks. The chatbot's Operator research tool will also be sunset in the coming weeks as its functionality has been integrated into ChatGPT agent. The latest update comes as AI agents rapidly gain traction across the tech industry. Major players including Microsoft, Salesforce and Oracle are investing heavily in the technology to enhance productivity and streamline operations. Source: Mobile World Live Image Credit: OpenAI
The Verge
3 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
I sent ChatGPT Agent out to shop for me
Think of OpenAI's new ChatGPT Agent as a day-one intern who's incredibly slow at every task but will eventually get the job done. Well… most of the job. Or… at least part of it. Usually. It's been one day since OpenAI debuted ChatGPT Agent, which it bills as a tool that can complete a wide range of complex, multi-step tasks on your behalf using its own 'virtual computer.' It's a combination of two of the company's prior releases, Operator and Deep Research. The Verge forked over the $200 for a one-month subscription ChatGPT Pro, since OpenAI announced that higher-than-expected demand for ChatGPT Agent will delay its rollout to Plus and Team users. Our take: It's a step forward in the world of AI agents, but it's sluggish, not always reliable, and can be glitchy. By typing '/agent,' I entered what OpenAI calls Agent Mode, and it immediately suggested five example tasks: Find a top-rated coffee grinder under $150, review rare earth metals coverage from The Wall Street Journal, create a Google Maps list of the best bakeries in Copenhagen, find a vintage 'Japanese-style' lamp on Etsy for less than $200, and check Google Calendar to create a date night for next week. I tried the Etsy lamp option. By clicking the example task, it filled out a detailed prompt for me in the text window: 'Find a Japanese-inspired vintage-style samsara lamp on Etsy priced under $200 with free shipping. Prioritize high-quality photos, seller ratings, and listings marked as ready to ship. Add the best 5 options to my cart and provide a URL for each for me to compare.' A small window popped up to detail the agent's tasks one-by-one (not the chain-of-thought reasoning, just the task it was currently working on at the time). It worked on the Etsy lamp task for 50 minutes, and the step-by-step tasks included 'thinking,' setting up its desktop, navigating to Etsy to search, waiting for the site to load, pressing Enter for search results (yes, it really gave me a true play-by-play), filtering the search for a vintage lamp (keep in mind the original prompt said 'vintage-style,' not 'vintage' specifically), setting the price filter to $200, checking shipping details for items, and more. Another wrinkle: ChatGPT Agent said, 'I added all five lamps to your Etsy cart (the cart shows five items totaling around $825). When you're ready to review or purchase them, just go to your cart on Etsy to compare them side by side.' But it didn't do that – I went to Etsy on my own computer and there was nothing in my cart. That's because ChatGPT Agent doesn't control my own browser or have access to my logins, so it possibly added some lamps to the cart of a virtual PC that I can't access. It did send me individual URLs, so I could manually put them in a cart if I wanted, but the fact remains that the agent said it did something that it clearly did not. And, of course, ChatGPT Agent is incredibly slow. That's not a secret. For many of ChatGPT Agent's use cases, including everyday consumer tasks, a human could do it much faster. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT Agent is an assistant that works in the background on tasks you'd rather someone else perform while you do something you do want to do instead. In a private demo and briefing Wednesday with OpenAI employees Yash Kumar and Isa Fulford — product lead and research lead on ChatGPT Agent, respectively — Kumar said their team is more focused on 'optimizing for hard tasks' than latency and that users aren't meant to sit and watch ChatGPT Agent work. ChatGPT Agent is incredibly slow. That's not a secret. 'Even if it takes 15 minutes, half an hour, it's quite a big speed-up compared to how long it would take you to do it,' Fulford said.. 'It's one of those things where you can kick something off in the background and then come back to it.' Another thing I wanted to test: how ChatGPT Agent acts when you ask it to move your money around. The answer: It won't do it, but it's majorly glitchy about it and seems not fully secure. When I asked OpenAI's Kumar on Wednesday whether the tool would be permitted to work on financial transactions and the like, he said those task categories have been restricted 'for now' and that an additional safeguard called Watch Mode means that for certain categories of websites, the user must not navigate away from the ChatGPT tab (essentially making the user oversee the agent) for security reasons. I prompted the agent like this: 'I want to save more money. Log into my bank account and set up an automatic transfer to my savings every month.' At first, I got a bizarre error message with a string of numbers in red. When I asked again, it said, 'I'm sorry, but I can't help with setting up an automatic transfer between accounts.' I then wrote, 'Why not? I'm giving you permission.' I got the same red-text, long-string-of-numbers error message as before. Afterward, it said, 'I'm sorry, but I can't assist with setting up transfers or other banking account management tasks.' At first, I got a bizarre error message with a string of numbers in red. When I pressed it on which financial transactions it's allowed to handle, ChatGPT Agent said it was able to assist with 'everyday consumer purchases' like groceries, household goods, and travel bookings, which handle 'standard checkout flows' rather than 'sensitive banking actions.' But it clarified it can't help with 'high-stakes' financial to-dos like transferring money, opening bank accounts, or buying regulated goods like alcohol and tobacco. Since ChatGPT Agent can assist with buying things, but not moving money around, I tried something else: Asking it to buy flowers for my friend Alanna in Colorado. I buy flowers a lot — that's what happens when your two best friends live in different states and you want to be present for big milestones even when you can't fly there. The online flower-delivery market can be a huge headache: Prices and bouquet sizes vary greatly depending on the service or florist, and reliability varies depending on whether you're ordering directly from a local florist or a big-box nationwide site. It's something I get tired of researching on my own, and sometimes I just end up buying whichever bouquet I have selected when I run out of steam, even if it's not the best one. So, I reasoned, it was the perfect job for an AI agent. I told ChatGPT Agent, 'I want to buy flowers for my friend who lives in Colorado. Check the delivery sites — it's fine to be delivered Saturday but no later. Find the cheapest and biggest bouquet options for me to review.' I settled in for a long wait. Luckily, I had a call to join anyway. It asked which area of Colorado she lived in, and I answered. When I glanced over to check in, I noticed ChatGPT Agent was heavily relying on a Forbes article of 'best flowery delivery services 2025' for its next steps, as well as a piece from Good Housekeeping. I navigated away from the tab, and when I came back, the conversation was gone and didn't appear in my chat history. So I asked the question again, worded in exactly the same way, and settled in for another wait. At this point, the agent answered pretty immediately with a list of options, maybe because it had already done the research (although that research and chat didn't appear in my history). I was impressed with the write-up. ChatGPT Agent gave me four options with price ranges and sometimes weighed in on the apparent size of the bouquet or expected delivery times. It also offered the advice that local florists are generally more reliable (true, in my experience). It then told me, 'Would you like me to help you place an order with any of these options, or preview specific bouquet designs or photos?' I picked one of the options it gave me — a local florist with hand-assembled bouquets — and asked it to help me pick a bouquet from that florist and place the order. That's when we ran into some issues. ChatGPT Agent said, 'I can't directly access Vintage Magnolia's website unless you provide the exact URL you're seeing — but I can guide you through how to place the order and help you pick a bouquet!' The weird part: Obviously ChatGPT Agent was the one to tell me about that florist and its website, and it had clearly accessed it before. It had also just offered to help me place the order. Another glitch. But its answer did include bouquet options (no photos, but descriptions). I picked one and asked it to place the order for me. It said, 'I can't place the order directly, but I'll walk you through the simple steps to order … and help you craft the perfect message.' It can easily automate the more intimate and fun parts of the process, like picking a specific bouquet or writing a heartfelt note. I'm confused at this point: One of the main selling points of ChatGPT Agent, touted by OpenAI, is that it can place orders for you, from online shopping to ordering groceries for a four-person family breakfast (in fact, that was one of their example use cases in their marketing materials). I pressed ChatGPT Agent on the subject. It told me, 'I can't actually place orders directly — I don't have payment access or the ability to log into third‑party sites.' When I told it it didn't need to log in, it said it can't enter my billing or payment details, submit an order form on my behalf, or 'access or control external websites, even in guest mode.' ChatGPT Agent can be impressive with analysis, weighing options, and guiding you through actions, but it doesn't seem to be able to always deliver on what it was built for: Performing those actions for you. It gets tripped up by the fact that it's using its own computer, not yours, and that significantly limits its usefulness. Plus, it can easily automate the more intimate and fun parts of the process (picking a specific bouquet, writing a heartfelt note) but struggles to automate the most frustrating parts (actually filling out delivery details and making the purchase). 'Even with your permission, I don't have the technical ability to act as you on another site — no typing on your behalf, clicking buttons, or filling out credit card forms,' ChatGPT Agent wrote. 'Think of me more as a super-powered assistant who can gather, compare, write, and guide — but not execute transactions.' One of my first jobs in New York was a personal assistant, and I can tell you right now I would've lost my job if I couldn't execute transactions or fill out forms on my boss's behalf. ChatGPT Agent is a step forward for everyday AI use in some ways, but we'll see if it learns to deliver on its promises.
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
OpenAI unveils advanced ChatGPT agent for seamless task automation
OpenAI has revealed its new and powerful ChatGPT agent, which is designed to automate complex tasks and execute multistep queries from users. This cutting-edge AI agent has started rolling out to ChatGPT's Pro, Plus, and Team users. It is a significant breakthrough in AI assistance, and here's everything about it. Unlike the regular version of ChatGPT that we use currently, which only responds to queries and engages in conversation, this new agent can actively interact with websites and connected apps in real time using a 'virtual computer' environment. It can mimic human actions such as browsing the web, filling out forms, opening links and typing to complete tasks independently. For example, if you want to plan a trip, you just need to enter your preferences and it will do everything. It can suggest places to visit, book a hotel, help with packing for the trip, provide weather information during your planned visit and much more, all without the need to enter multiple queries. ChatGPT already has experimental tools such as Operator and Deep Research. The operator can navigate websites, while Deep Research automates complex information gathering. The new Agent brings the strengths of both of these tools together for seamless task execution and sophisticated reasoning. Additionally, users can connect apps like Gmail and GitHub, allowing the agent to scan emails, access documents,or review code repositories to enhance productivity. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has highlighted that while the agent is currently in the early preview phase, it has the potential to significantly boost both personal and workplace productivity by taking over repetitive and complex workflows. Importantly, users have full control over the agent and can give permission, interrupt or stop any ongoing task at any time. This launch places OpenAI alongside other leading tech giants investing in AI agents as the future of digital assistants. The arrival of this advanced agent also suggests that the rumoured AI-powered browser could be real and possibly launching soon. There have been reports that OpenAI is working on a browser called Aura, and perhaps this new agent will power that browser.
Mint
4 days ago
- Business
- Mint
ChatGPT can now shop for you, schedule meetings, and analyze presentations with new agent feature
After launching Deep Research and Operator agents earlier this year, OpenAI has introduced a new AI agent called the 'ChatGPT agent', which integrates more deeply with the company's chatbot of the same name. The ChatGPT agent is a general-purpose agentic system that can take actions on a user's behalf. With the new ChatGPT agent, the chatbot can handle tasks such as accessing the user's calendar, shopping on their behalf, creating spreadsheets, and browsing the web to gather information. It can also automate repetitive tasks, such as converting screenshots or dashboards into presentations, planning and booking offsites, updating spreadsheets with new data, and more. OpenAI says the ChatGPT agent brings the best of both worlds from the Operator and Agent tools, allowing it to transition naturally from a simple conversation to executing actions within the same chat. Amid rumours of OpenAI launching its own AI browser following the release of Perplexity's Comet, the company has instead added advanced browsing capabilities to the ChatGPT agent. OpenAI describes this as a 'visual browser that interacts with the web through a graphical user interface, a text-based browser for simpler reasoning-based web queries, a terminal, and direct API access.' The ChatGPT agent can also utilise ChatGPT connectors to access websites like Gmail and GitHub, enabling it to find relevant information around a prompt and use it in its responses. Users will have the option to log into different websites at any point by taking over the browser. The new agent manages tasks using its own virtual computer, which OpenAI says 'preserves the context necessary for the task, even when multiple tools are used.' The ChatGPT agent is designed to be more flexible and interactive than previous models. Users can interrupt it at any point to clarify instructions, steer it towards a desired outcome, or change the task entirely. The agent can also seek additional details from the user if needed to complete a task. On benchmarks, OpenAI says the ChatGPT agent scores higher than the o3 reasoning model and Deep Research agent on Humanity's Last Exam. On FrontierMath, a benchmark featuring novel, unpublished problems, it reportedly achieves better accuracy than the o3 and o4-mini models. Notably, on SpreadsheetBench—a benchmark evaluating a model's ability to edit real-world data in spreadsheets—OpenAI claims that the ChatGPT agent not only outperforms its own previous models but also Microsoft's Copilot. OpenAI acknowledges that while it has built numerous safeguards and warnings into the new agent, its overall risk profile remains higher than previous models. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman noted on X (formerly Twitter) that the ChatGPT agent could be tricked by 'bad actors' into revealing users' private information. 'We are going to warn users heavily and give users the freedom to take actions carefully if they want to,' he added. The ChatGPT agent can be accessed by selecting 'agent mode' within the ChatGPT app or website. The feature is currently available only to OpenAI's paying members, including Pro, Plus, and Team users.
Fast Company
4 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
OpenAI's new ChatGPT agent reasons, researches, and run its own computer
OpenAI is rolling out a new AI agent within ChatGPT that can browse the web and conduct deep research. An AI agent is similar to an AI app that can retain extensive information about a user and an automated workflow, reasoning its way toward task completion. This new ChatGPT agent is a hybrid. OpenAI previously released an agent called Operator, which can browse the web and access tools. Another agent, Deep Research, can search the web and reason through information to produce a comprehensive report on a topic. The new agent combines the strengths of both tools, along with ChatGPT's built-in intelligence and conversational fluency. OpenAI said in a press release on Thursday that the ChatGPT agent carries out tasks using its own virtual computer, 'fluidly shifting between reasoning and action to handle complex workflows from start to finish.' For example, OpenAI says the agent can analyze a user's calendar to generate a briefing on upcoming client meetings, or plan and purchase ingredients for a dinner party. A business might ask the agent to create a slide deck based on in-depth research about a group of competing companies. The model behind these agents is designed to take in new directions after starting a task. Users can approve tasks the agent wants to carry out, redirect it if it goes off track, or adjust the goal's details. The ChatGPT agent can run code and prompt the user to log into websites when necessary. It might also use APIs to access data sources, such as files stored in Google Drive. Importantly, the agent requests permission before performing consequential actions like sending emails, submitting forms, making purchases, or handling personal information. The user can take control of the browser or stop the agent's tasks at any time. And the agent won't do just anything. OpenAI says the agent rejects harmful or illegal requests. It won't handle high-risk tasks such as financial transactions or legal advice. The new hybrid agent launches today for ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Team subscribers. Users can enable it by selecting 'agent mode' from the tools dropdown within ChatGPT.
