ChatGPT levels up: New ‘Agent’ feature lets AI work like digital assistant

• Photo courtesy of ChatGPT

By San Matildo

ChatGPT, the conversational AI developed by OpenAI, is now testing a groundbreaking feature called “ChatGPT Agent”—a major leap forward in artificial intelligence capabilities.

With this new update, ChatGPT can handle complex tasks using its own computer, moving well beyond the limits of traditional chatbot interactions.

“Today, we launched a new product called ‘ChatGPT Agent,’” announced OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on July 18 via his X account (formerly Twitter).

“Agent represents a new level of capability for AI systems and can accomplish some remarkable, complex tasks for you using its own computer. It combines the spirit of Deep Research and Operator, but is more powerful than that may sound—it can think for a long time, use some tools, think some more, take some actions, think some more, etc.,” he explained.

Altman shared a demo showing how the AI Agent could assist with planning a friend’s wedding—managing everything from buying an outfit and booking travel to choosing a gift. They also showed how it could analyze data and create a work presentation.

Screen grab from Sam Altman’s post

With this upgrade, ChatGPT can now complete multi-step activities like planning events, shopping online, processing datasets, and generating reports—with minimal user input.

“We have built a lot of safeguards and warnings into it, and broader mitigations than we’ve ever developed before from robust training to system safeguards to user controls, but we can’t anticipate everything. In the spirit of iterative deployment, we are going to warn users heavily and give users freedom to take actions carefully if they want to,” he said.

However, while the feature offers immense utility, Altman and the OpenAI team urge caution.

“We don’t know exactly what the impacts are going to,” Altman warned. “Bad actors may try to ‘trick’ users’ AI agents into giving private information they shouldn’t and take actions they shouldn’t, in ways we can’t predict. We recommend giving agents the minimum access required to complete a task to reduce privacy and security risks.

“For example,” he added, “I can give Agent access to my calendar to help schedule a group dinner. But if I’m just asking it to buy clothes, it doesn’t need access to anything.”

OpenAI emphasized that real-world use will help refine the technology and improve safeguards over time. For now, the company encourages gradual and responsible adoption of the tool.

This new feature of ChatGPT signals a significant evolution in how AI assistants’ function—from passive responders to intelligent agents capable of navigating digital environments, making decisions, and even taking real-world action on a user’s behalf.