Proto AI Agent ChatGPT becomes more Siri-like with new scheduled tasks feature Two distinct universes of AI tools are merging. Samuel Axon Jan 14, 2025 5:08 pm | 2 Credit: Benj Edwards / OpenAI / Getty Images Credit: Benj Edwards / OpenAI / Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOpenAI is making ChatGPT work a little more like older digital assistants with a new feature called Tasks, as reported by TechCrunch and others.Currently in beta, Tasks allows users to direct the chatbot to send reminders or to generate responses to specific prompts at certain times; recurring tasks are also supported.The feature is available to Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers starting today, while free users don't have access.To create a task, users need to select "4o with scheduled tasks" from the model picker and then direct ChatGPT using the same kind of plain language text prompts that drive everything else it does. ChatGPT will sometimes suggest tasks, too, but they won't go into effect unless the user approves them.The user can then make changes to assigned tasks through the same chat conversation, or they can use a new Tasks section of the ChatGPT apps to manage all currently assigned items. There's currently a 10-task limit.When the time comes to perform an assigned task, the ChatGPT mobile or desktop app will send a notification on schedule.This update can be seen as OpenAI's first step into the agentic AI space, where applications built using deep learning can operate relatively independently within certain boundaries, either replacing or easing the day-to-day responsibilities of information workers.Agentic AI is the new focus for a lot of AI startups and Big Tech companies partly because it has the potential to become a highly lucrative service for the enterpriseprovided it works consistently as intended. Tools like large language models are neither cheap to build and train nor operate and maintain, so a big revenue source like that will naturally appeal to people running those companies.Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly been working on bringing the classic digital assistant Siri closer to how LLM-based chatbots work but is grappling with the bots' comparative unreliability and tendency to hallucinate. The same goes for Amazon with Alexa.We can expect to see more efforts to integrate traditional AI assistants with AI tools built on more modern techniques like those used to develop and train applications like ChatGPT.On OpenAI's end, what ChatGPT Tasks is doing here essentially amounts to bringing dumber but more reliable AI techniques to help a large language model be useful in more contexts.Regardless of which side tech companies are coming from, the ultimate goal is agentic AI. This is just OpenAI's first dip into those waters.Samuel AxonSenior EditorSamuel AxonSenior Editor Samuel Axon is a senior editor at Ars Technica. He covers Apple, software development, gaming, AI, entertainment, and mixed reality. He has been writing about gaming and technology for nearly two decades at Engadget, PC World, Mashable, Vice, Polygon, Wired, and others. He previously ran a marketing and PR agency in the gaming industry, led editorial for the TV network CBS, and worked on social media marketing strategy for Samsung Mobile at the creative agency SPCSHP. He also is an independent software and game developer for iOS, Windows, and other platforms, and heis a graduate of DePaul University, where he studied interactive media and software development. 2 Comments