ChatGPT can now take control of your Google Chrome to book restaurants, buy products, plan meals, and more
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|Streamline your daily routine by integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT upgrade as a new virtual assistant to complete tasks.
Never miss another important meeting again
- ChatGPT can schedule appointments, compare shopping deals, plan meals, etc,
- The new AI model is deigned specifically for "agent" tasks
- OpenAI warns of increased security risk
- Available to paying users with the pro, plus, and team plans
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On the hunt for killer home décor deals for your flat reno? Forgot to plan date night and now every spot’s booked? Or maybe you just need a rockstar assistant to juggle the chaos while you're desk-bound for hours.
Enter, ChatGPT Agent.
While we've all become accustomed to the way that OpenAI's ChatGPT 'bot can answer general knowledge questions, write cover letters, dream-up recipes and iterneraries when travelling... but this major upgrade breaks-out the AI from its chatbot interface and lets it take control of your web browser and complete complex multi-step tasks on your behalf.
Launched earlier this month, you can ask ChatGPT Agent it to shop for you, book restaurant reservations, or create PowerPoint presentations based on competitor analysis. This means you're likely to get the best deals and get all your necessary meetings in the diary without investing all this extra time. The system is able to act as your assistant because it runs on a new AI model developed specifically for these agent capabilities.
It combines features from OpenAI's existing Operator and Deep Research services. Operator is OpenAI's agent that tackles all the heavy lifting—autonomously performing tasks through web browser interactions like filling forms, placing online orders, scheduling appointments. Deep Research, on the other hand, organizes and automates this work flow to deliver structured reports by synthesizing information from various online sources.
"The hope is that agents are able to bring some real utility to users – to actually do things for them rather than just outputting polished text and sounding impressive," said Niamh Burns, senior media analyst at Enders Analysis.
If you're a paying subscriber, you can access ChatGPT Agent immediately through Pro, Plus, and Team plans.
- Plus £20 per month
- Pro £200 per month
- Team £25 per user per month billed annually or £30 per user per month billed monthly
Pro users receive 400 messages per month, whilst Plus and Team subscribers get 40 monthly messages, with additional usage available through adding extra credits.
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|User takes advantage of OpenAI's new ChatGPT update to compare the best shopping deals.
The tool represents the process of merging capabilities from both Operator and Deep Research into one unified system. According to OpenAI, the new agent scored 41.6% on "Humanity's Last Exam" and 27.4% on FrontierMath, demonstrating a much higher performance compared to previous models.
You'll need to select 'agent mode' from the tools dropdown in ChatGPT to activate these features. Enterprise and Education users will gain access in the coming weeks, though the service isn't yet available in the European Economic Area or Switzerland.
When you ask ChatGPT Agent to plan a date night, it will check your Google Calendar for free evenings between 6pm and 9pm, then search for Italian, sushi or Korean restaurants with ratings above 4.3 stars. The entire process takes 10 to 15 minutes, during which you can interrupt and redirect the agent if needed.
In demonstrations, the system successfully browsed Etsy for vintage lamps under $200 with free shipping, automatically adding items to shopping carts. You can also request it to analyse three competitors and generate slide decks, plan and purchase ingredients for Japanese breakfast for four people, or summarise your inbox whilst finding open calendar slots.
The agent then chooses appropriate tools for each task, including visual browsers, terminals for running code, and app connectors for tools like Google Calendar and Gmail integration.
You should be aware that this powerful new tool could raise security systems down the line. There's potential where you could face malicious prompts hidden on websites the agent visits, which could demand it hands over your personal data. OpenAI has acknowledged that “with this model there are more risks than with previous models”.
There's also the question of commercialisation potential.
"Would there be commercial deals where brands pay to be featured by assistants, or cases where they might feature their own products more than competitors? These AI companies are under growing pressure to monetise their products, so some version of ads or sponsored placement feels inevitable."
OpenAI's chief executive Sam Altman previously suggested the company could charge a 2% fee on sales generated through its deep research software, sparking speculation about revenue generation through retail transactions.
Despite these concerns, the system requires your explicit permission before making purchases or taking any "irreversible" actions like sending emails or making bookings.
"You're always in control. ChatGPT requests permission before taking actions of consequence, and you can easily interrupt, take over the browser, or stop tasks at any point," the company stated in a blog post.
OpenAI has trained the agent to reject suspicious requests, including demands for bank transfers. The company noted it is "exercising caution and implementing the needed safeguards now," despite lacking definitive evidence the model could help create severe harm.
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