On Tuesday, OpenAI rolled out "Tasks," a brand new ChatGPT feature that lets users schedule actions to be performed at a later time.
Launching globally in beta for ChatGPT Plus, Teams, and Pro subscribers, it marks the company's first entry into the virtual assistant space as it aims to compete with Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri, both of which already have similar functions.
In a post on X, OpenAI highlighted the many ways users can use ChatGPT Tasks, including scheduling weekly global news briefings and setting reminders.
Today we’re rolling out a beta version of tasks—a new way to ask ChatGPT to do things for you at a future time.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) January 14, 2025
Whether it's one-time reminders or recurring actions, tell ChatGPT what you need and when, and it will automatically take care of it. pic.twitter.com/7lgvsPehHv
With this feature, ChatGPT is now capable of managing tasks independently.
Though no formal announcements were made, the company may make this feature available for free in the future.
Over the next few days, Tasks will slowly become available on the ChatGPT desktop, mobile, and web apps.
However, the tasks manager will only be available on the web app, as of the moment, while scheduled tasks will be available on the Windows app in the coming months (within Q1).
AI in the Future
In this early beta, users can already schedule tasks that enable ChatGPT to run automated prompts and proactively contact them at set intervals:
- Tasks can be triggered and updated at specific times, either as one-off or recurring events, or through the user interface.
- Tasks are executed even if the user is not online at the time.
- Users will receive push notifications or emails once the task is completed.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT experienced a slight hiccup yesterday with its servers due to overwhelming user demand for scheduling tasks.
Although it shows how users are eager to experience this latest feature, it also highlights how OpenAI isn't prepared to handle the surge.
The company's X announcement also suggests a need to scale up to meet processing demands.
Seems like a lot of you are enjoying this beta and we're working hard to scale up, but we are experiencing server issues right now and some tasks will not complete. We hope to have it resolved soon. https://t.co/B3DgksvUeV
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) January 15, 2025
The exciting new feature comes just a few weeks after the company released Sora, o1, and ChatGPT Pro in what could be considered the biggest AI development of last year.
OpenAI has faced its fair share of challenges, however, including last month's troubling news regarding its o1 model.
Most recently, the company transitioned to a for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC) to address funding concerns for artificial general intelligence (AGI) development.