OpenAI is reportedly developing “agent software,” that will effectively take over your device and complete complex tasks on your behalf, according to The Information. OpenAI’s agent would work between multiple apps on your computer, performing clicks, cursor movements, and text typing. It’s really a new type of operating system, and it could change the way you interact with your computer altogether.
It’s all part of Sam Altman’s vision to make ChatGPT into a “supersmart personal assistant” —like Siri, but better. Companies like Google and Meta are also reportedly developing agent software, according to The Information. The idea is that an AI agent would use your computer for you, instead of you using your computer. You could simply ask an AI agent to turn a document into a spreadsheet and analyze that data for you.
OpenAI is not only building this computer control agent but also a web browsing AI agent. The web browser will be able to plan flights for you, gather data about companies, and other complex tasks that are above the capabilities of ChatGPT.
Altman is slowly turning OpenAI into an AI agent company. The recently launched GPT Store is a marketplace of AI agents. He hinted at agent software when introducing the GPT Store at DevDay on Nov. 6th:
“Eventually, you’ll just ask the computer for what you need and it’ll do all of these tasks for you, “ Altman said. “These capabilities are often talked about in the AI field as ‘agents.’ The upside of this are going to be tremendous.”
A key feature of this is interoperability, requiring an agent to have access and be able to navigate all the apps on your device. This is going to require the user to give over a lot of control to OpenAI, and will require apps to all work seamlessly together. Users may be uneasy about letting ChatGPT take the driver’s seat.
Andrej Karpathy, a founding member of OpenAI, said in a YouTube video recently that he doesn’t think it’s accurate to refer to large language models as a chatbot. Instead, he called it the “kernel process of an emerging operating system.” Interconnected AI agents will not just talk, they’ll use your computer.
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang noted during The New York Times Dealbook back in November that AI has fundamentally changed computing, and the “agent software revolution” is what he’s talking about. “We’re at the beginning of a brand new generation of computing. It hasn’t been reinvented in 60 years, this is why it’s such a big deal,” said Huang.
Agent software could fundamentally change the way we use technology. However, it also involves handing over a lot of control to software companies like OpenAI. Are you willing to let ChatGPT use your computer for you?