ChatGPT can now handle reminders and to-dosChatGPT can now handle reminders and to-dos / The AI chatbot can now set reminders and perform recurring actions.By Kylie Robison, a senior AI reporter working with The Verge's policy and tech teams. She previously worked at Fortune Magazine and Business Insider. Jan 14, 2025, 6:00 PM UTCShare this story Illustration: The VergeOpenAI is launching a new beta feature in ChatGPT called Tasks that lets users schedule future actions and reminders.The feature, which is rolling out to Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers starting today, is an attempt to make the chatbot into something closer to a traditional digital assistant think Google Assistant or Siri but with ChatGPTs more advanced language capabilities.Tasks works by letting users tell ChatGPT what they need and when they need it done. Want a daily weather report at 7AM? A reminder about your passport expiration? Or maybe just a knock-knock joke to tell your kids before bedtime? ChatGPT can now handle all of that through scheduled one-time or recurring tasks.Do you work at OpenAI? Id love to chat. You can reach me securely on Signal @kylie.01 or via email at kylie@theverge.com.To use the feature, subscribers need to select 4o with scheduled tasks in ChatGPTs model picker. From there, its as simple as typing out what you want ChatGPT to do and when you want it done. The system can also proactively suggest tasks based on your conversations, though users have to explicitly approve any suggestions before theyre created. (Honestly, I feel like suggestions has the potential of creating annoying slop by accident).All tasks can be managed either directly in chat threads or through a new Tasks section (available only via the web) in the profile menu, so its easy to modify or cancel any task youve set up. Upon completion of these tasks, notifications will alert users on web, desktop, and mobile. Theres also a limit of 10 active tasks that can run simultaneously.OpenAI hasnt specified when (or if) the feature might come to free users, suggesting Tasks might remain a premium feature to help justify ChatGPTs subscription costs. The company has monthly $20 and $200 subscription tiers.An example of a ChatGPT Task. OpenAIWhile scheduling capabilities are a common feature in digital assistants, this marks a shift in ChatGPTs functionality. Until now, the AI has operated solely in real-time, responding to immediate requests rather than handling ongoing tasks or future planning. The addition of Tasks suggests OpenAI is expanding ChatGPTs role beyond conversation into territory traditionally held by virtual assistants.OpenAIs ambitions for Tasks appear to stretch beyond simple scheduling too. Bloomberg reported that Operator, an autonomous AI agent capable of independently controlling computers, is slated for release this month. Meanwhile, reverse engineer Tibor Blaho found that OpenAI appears to be working on something codenamed Caterpillar, that could integrate with Tasks and allow ChatGPT to search for specific information, analyze problems, summarize data, navigate websites, and access documentswith users receiving notifications upon task completion.The rise of agentic AI in 2025 isnt just about technological advancementits about economics.As I previously wrote back in October, the rise of agentic AI in 2025 isnt just about technological advancementits about economics. These agent-like features represent a strategic way to monetize expensive AI infrastructure. While OpenAIs decision to put this functionality behind ChatGPTs paywall was predictable, the real question remains: Will it deliver reliable results? The last time I got an OpenAI agent demo, it produced inaccurate information. The coming months will reveal whether theyve solved these fundamental reliability challenges.I also think of this new feature as a slightly more sophisticated script, but at the end of the day, Tasks is following a simple, rote set of instructions much like a typical bot. The goal of many frontier AI labs like OpenAI is to evolve these features into something that is able to interact with environments, learn from feedback, and make decisions without constant human input.However, questions remain about how reliable these scheduled tasks will be and what happens if ChatGPT fails to deliver time-sensitive information. OpenAIs decision to launch Tasks in beta suggests theyre still working out these details and want to gather real-world feedback before a wider rollout.For now, if youre a paying ChatGPT user, you can start experimenting with Tasks by looking for the 4o with scheduled tasks option in your model picker. Just remember its still in beta maybe dont rely on it for that super important meeting reminder just yet.Most PopularMost Popular