ChatGPT Agent is Launched: OpenAI Ushers in a New Era of AI-Powered Office Automation

An AI Agent is an intelligent program capable of perceiving its environment, making independent decisions, and taking actions to achieve specific goals. Unlike simple chat AIs, it represents a transformative application truly essential for the AI era.

On July 18, 2025, the field of artificial intelligence experienced another significant shift. OpenAI announced the official launch of its new general-purpose ChatGPT Agent, marking the transition of AI from a "chat assistant" to a "multi-task executor." This tool can not only automatically browse the web, generate PPTs (PowerPoint presentations), and run code, but also open up a variety of application programming interfaces (APIs), becoming an all-around digital assistant for users.

What is ChatGPT Agent?

ChatGPT Agent is OpenAI's new generation AI automation platform, combining the core capabilities of several previous experimental tools:

Integrates Operator's web operation function to enable AI automatic browsing and clicking.
Integrates Deep Research's information integration logic to obtain data from multiple platforms and generate structured summaries.
Introduces terminal access rights and API support, allowing users to call common services such as Gmail and GitHub through prompt words.

This means that users only need to issue natural language instructions to complete complex tasks such as "generate presentations," "query historical emails of a customer in the mailbox," and "plan travel routes."

What are the functions of ChatGPT Agent?

What can ChatGPT Agent do?

In office scenarios, ChatGPT Agent demonstrates excellent automation capabilities and can automatically handle many types of complex tasks, making it a powerful example of AI for business automation. It also serves as one of the most promising productivity tools for enterprises, offering smart office solutions that streamline workflows and boost efficiency. Such as:

Automatically generate editable slides and presentations.
Reschedule, automatically plan meetings or outings.
Quickly update financial data to existing Excel templates.
Convert screenshots into vector element charts for internal reporting.

In daily life, it can also assist users through the functions of an AI personal assistant app, helping to complete a wide range of tasks such as:

Serving as an AI travel planner for organizing trips, including travel planning and flight booking.
Designing dinner menus and arranging events.
Finding local services and making appointments with professionals.

Cross-platform integration, connecting mainstream tools

ChatGPT Agent can access OpenAI's Connectors, which enables it to seamlessly integrate with multiple third-party platforms. For example:

Grab email content from Gmail and perform summary analysis.
Extract information from Notion or calendar to generate meeting minutes.
Use API to directly operate developer tools or database services.

This is very efficient for scenarios such as remote office, content generation, and project management.

Security and user control mechanism

OpenAI emphasizes that users always have control over the Agent. Any operation involving account access or data changes will obtain user permission before execution, reinforcing AI data privacy control. Users can at any time:

Interrupt ongoing tasks.
Manually take over the browser.
Stop data interaction operations.

This robust level of user control over AI automation not only ensures privacy and information security but also reduces the risk of accidental actions triggered by AI-driven processes.

Who can use ChatGPT Agent?

Currently, ChatGPT Agent is open to the following user groups:

Pro users: can perform nearly unlimited tasks per month.
Plus and Team users: can use Agent to perform up to 50 tasks per month, and additional tasks can be expanded by purchasing points.
Enterprise and Education users: are expected to obtain access in late July.

For high-frequency AI users such as enterprises, content creators, and freelancers, this is a cost-effective smart office solution.

OpenAI ChatGPT

Current functional limitations and future directions

Although ChatGPT Agent has demonstrated amazing task capabilities, OpenAI still regards it as an "early stage product."

The currently generated slides are still rough in format and details.
Slide creation currently does not support starting from scratch (relying on existing templates).
Complex documents or visual structure generation still needs further iterations.

OpenAI said that in the future it will continue to improve Agent's ability to perform complex tasks, launch more template support and visual layout optimization, and improve the actual output quality.

Functional comparison table of mainstream AI Agents and ChatGPT Agent

Project/Product	ChatGPT Agent (OpenAI)	Auto-GPT (Open Source)	Devin (Cognition Labs)	Personal AI (Humane)	AgentScope (ByteDance)
Publishing organization/company	OpenAI	Open source community (Python)	Cognition Labs	Humane	ByteDance (under internal testing)
Agent type	General-purpose task agent	Autonomous execution AI process orchestration	AI development assistant/automatic programming	Personal agent similar to "digital avatar"	Cross-product multimodal AI operation center
Whether human intervention is required	Semi-automatic: supports user interruption and confirmation	Automatically runs task chains with little human intervention	Fully automatic, simulating human development processes	Relies heavily on user active input	Configurable/triggered execution
Typical functional capabilities	Browse the web, check email, write code, write documents, generate PPT	Automatically crawl information, analyze and act (such as writing a business plan)	Write, debug, and deploy code; use terminal and Git	Personal schedule assistant, message summary	Multi-App linkage, AI command conversion to execution operation
Does it support plug-in/API calls	✅ (Connect to Gmail, GitHub, etc. through Connectors)	✅ (Based on Python + API scripts)	✅ (Built-in terminal, IDE environment)	❌ (Not yet open)	✅ (Self-developed AI interface system)
Can access browser/webpage	✅ (Support webpage clicks and content reading)	✅ (Use browser simulator)	✅ (Support webpage debugging)	❌ (Focus on text interaction)	✅ (Achieved through Byte product ecosystem)
Does it have the ability to execute multiple tasks	✅ (Can execute multiple tasks across applications)	✅ (Automatically generate long task chains)	✅ (Can automatically complete development task chains)	Partial (such as appointment, summary)	✅ (task linkage configuration)
Security mechanism and control rights	User full control, confirmation before execution	High risk, manual restriction required	Unknown security mechanism (still in internal testing)	Highly restricted, controlled on local devices	Undisclosed details (may support permission configuration)
Ease of use	Available for non-technical users, user-friendly interface	Requires local deployment, high technical threshold	Mainly for technical users, still in early testing	For the general public, mainly voice interaction	For enterprises or developers, not yet in public testing
Typical usage scenarios	Office automation, knowledge management, content generation	Automatic generation of business plans, data analysis	Programming, technical research and development assistance	Schedule management, personalized reminders	Cross-platform AI control center, efficiency improvement
Commercialization status	✅ Official launch (Plus/Pro available)	❌ Non-commercial open source project	❌ Not open for use	✅ Cooperate with own hardware sales	❌ Internal testing only

AI Agent will reconstruct the human-computer interaction mode

The release of ChatGPT Agent is not only a functional upgrade, but also a sign that artificial intelligence has entered the "automatic execution" stage. Compared with traditional ChatGPT tools, Agent is more like a "digital assistant that understands you":

The user role changes from "questioner" to "task commander."
AI behavior changes from "providing answers" to "completing tasks."
The input form evolves from "text dialogue" to "task description."

This is exactly the direction of the future integration of AI browsers, AI assistants, and AI operating systems.

The launch of ChatGPT Agent has made AI leap from a "conversational assistant" to a "task execution tool". Whether you are a content creator, a workplace user, or an ordinary person who wants to improve life efficiency, this product may become your indispensable productivity core in the next few years. As AI automation continues to evolve, the significance of ChatGPT Agent will go far beyond the scope of "intelligent chat".

If you want to experience the next generation of AI assistants, you might as well upgrade your ChatGPT account now and start this AI productivity revolution.