OpenAI’s latest and greatest, a Ph.D.-level artificial intelligent (AI) super agent with the ability to perform complex tasks without human interaction, could come as early as this month.
Operator, which would reportedly first appear in a research preview and developer tool, is an autonomous AI agent capable of performing tasks such as coding, ordering groceries and making travel arrangements without user oversight. The agent is also designed to work independently from a computer.
Tibor Blaho, a software engineer who often uncovers AI news, wrote on X that “ChatGPT macOS desktop app has hidden options to define shortcuts for the desktop launcher to ‘Toggle Operator’ and ‘Force Quit Operator.'”
The long-term impact of Operator could have far-reaching repercussions across multiple industries. Advanced chatbot-virtual assistants that do everyday tasks autonomously such as it ripple into healthcare, for instance, allowing hospital staff to analyze medical histories, vital signs and lab results. AI could even suggest diagnostic tests or treatments.
Consumers, meanwhile, might rely on Operator to independently plan their vacations, as well as maintain daily schedules. The rub remains the accuracy of the bot’s work.
“The next stage in the growth of AI, Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), is no longer a fringe concept but an inevitable reality requiring unprecedented investment in infrastructure, akin to laying down the tracks for the next Industrial Revolution,” Maisa CEO David Villalón said in an email. “Soon, an entire parallel economy could emerge around AI agents, who will carry out a wide range of tasks and could outpace traditional human-led businesses in scale and impact.”
“Development of AI models will continue to flourish in the near-term. As the hype fades, society will gain more clarity on the real value of large language models,” Joye Purser, global field CISO at Cohesity, said in an email. “In the following years, AI will become less-hyped, more commonly used, and exploited for mass-scale influence for good and for bad.”
AI agents like Operator could sweep into the workforce as early as this year, leading to massive digital transformation and significant upticks in productivity and efficiency. OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman has repeatedly said agentic AI represents the next major step for AI. At CES earlier this month, NVIDIA Corp. CEO, Jensen Huang predicted “IT will become the HR of AI Agents.” And Salesforce Inc. CEO, Marc Benioff foresees a digital workforce of millions of AI agents working alongside humans in the coming years.
The imminent release of Operator comes amid reports that Altman is to meet with government officials in Washington, D.C., later this month in a closed-door briefing.
Though the nature of the meeting has not been publicly disclosed, it is likely to center around recent developments in AI and Altman’s proclamation that the industry is on the cusp of the so-called “Intelligence Age.” To that end, OpenAI has introduced OpenAI o3, a system capable of “reasoning” math, science and computer programming problems. The new system is a successor to o1, a reasoning system that debuted earlier in 2024 and is now available to businesses and individuals; o3 is more than 20% more accurate than o1 and is currently being tested by safety and security experts.
