OpenAI Just Released ChatGPT Agent, Its Most Powerful Agent Yet

Agent Capabilities & Architecture - OpenAI has created a new agent in ChatGPT that can perform tasks that would take humans a long time, by giving the agent access to a virtual computer [6] - The agent has access to a text browser (similar to deep research tool), a virtual browser (similar to operator tool with full GUI access), and a terminal for running code and calling APIs [6][7][8] - All tools have shared state, allowing for flexible and complex tasks [9] - The agent is trained using reinforcement learning across thousands of virtual machines, allowing it to discover optimal strategies for tool usage [3] Development & Training - The agent is a collaboration between the Deep Research and Operator teams, combining the strengths of both [6] - The agent is trained with reinforcement learning, rewarding efficient and correct task completion [36] - The model figures out when to use which tool through experimentation, without explicit instructions [38] - Reinforcement learning is data-efficient, allowing new capabilities to be taught with smaller, high-quality datasets [75][76] Safety & Limitations - Safety training and mitigations were a core part of the development process due to the agent's ability to take actions with external side effects [44] - The team has implemented a monitor that watches for suspicious activity, similar to antivirus software [48] - Date picking remains a difficult task for the AI system [4][83][84] Future Directions - Future development will focus on improving the accuracy and performance across a wide distribution of tasks [62][85] - The team is exploring different ways of interacting with the agent, beyond the current chat-based interface [68][86] - Personalization and memory for agents will be important for future development, allowing agents to do things without being explicitly asked [67][68]