OpenAI’s Tasks: Small Feature, Big Implications for Agentive AI

Good morning, AI entrepreneurs & enthusiasts,

OpenAI’s AI agent era just got its unofficial start — with ChatGPT gaining the ability to schedule and manage daily tasks.

With ‘Tasks’ rolling out and mysterious 'Operator' whispers in the air, is OpenAI finally ready to move from chatbots to full-on autonomous assistants?

In today’s AI news:

• OpenAI launches ChatGPT ‘Tasks’
• MiniMax releases open-source, ultra-long-context LLMs
• Microsoft upgrades AutoGen with new multi-agent system
• AI Tools & Quick News

OpenAI launches ChatGPT ‘Tasks’

The News: OpenAI is rolling out Tasks, a new ChatGPT beta feature that allows users to schedule reminders and recurring actions, marking the company's first step into agentic AI capabilities.

The details:

• Users can schedule both one-time reminders and recurring tasks, such as daily weather updates, news briefings, or periodic web searches.
• Tasks can be created and managed via chat or a dedicated web interface, with notifications accessible across desktop, mobile, and web platforms.
• ChatGPT offers task suggestions based on conversation history, requiring explicit user approval before activation.
• The feature will roll out to Plus, Team, and Pro users in the coming days, supporting up to 10 active tasks at a time through the new “4o with scheduled tasks” model option.

Why it matters: While reminders aren’t groundbreaking, Tasks lays the groundwork for incorporating agentic abilities into ChatGPT, which will likely gain value once integrated with other features like tool or computer use. With ‘Operator’ also rumored to be coming this month, all signs are pointing towards 2025 being the year of the AI agent.

MiniMax releases open-source, ultra-long-context LLMs

The News: Chinese AI lab Minimax just launched two new open-source AI models that leverage a new ‘Lightning Attention’ approach that allows for massive context windows of 4M tokens while maintaining speed and performance.

The details:

• The release features two models: MiniMax-Text-01, a 456B parameter base language model, and MiniMax-VL-01, a multimodal model capable of handling text and visual inputs.
• Both models support context windows of up to 4M tokens, a significant leap from the current industry standard of 128K to 256K tokens.
• The models achieve performance on par with leading AI systems in academic benchmarks while surpassing all open-source models in tasks requiring long-context capabilities.
• MiniMax offers competitive API pricing, with input tokens costing $0.2 per million and output tokens priced at $1.1 per million, making them accessible to developers and enterprises.

Why it matters: As AI development shifts toward autonomous agents with extensive memory and context processing needs, MiniMax's ultra-long context could be revolutionary. Open-sourcing these models, combined with competitive API pricing, could kickstart an aggressive innovation push in the AI agent ecosystem.

Microsoft upgrades AutoGen with new multi-agent system

The News: Microsoft just released AutoGen v0.4, the latest update to its open-source agentic framework — alongside the introduction of Magnetic-One, a new orchestration system that coordinates multiple AI agent specialists to handle complex tasks.

The details:

• Magnetic-One unveiled four agents: WebSurfer for web navigation, FileSurfer for managing local files, and Coder and ComputerTerminal designed for advanced coding tasks.
• The v0.4 update features an event-driven messaging system, allowing asynchronous communication between agents to create more flexible and complex workflows.
• Additional tools introduced include AutoGen Studio for low-code development, AutoGen Bench for performance benchmarking, and enhanced monitoring capabilities.
• The system supports multiple language models, maintaining an LLM-agnostic approach while defaulting to GPT-4o integration for ease of use.

Why it matters: While the world has just started dipping its toes into the AI agent boom, the next steps are already being taken to enable multi-agent systems that open the door to tackling complex applications and tasks. Our own personal agentic teams are right around the corner — and human workflows will never be the same again.

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Quick News

President Joe Biden signed a new executive order allowing AI companies to build data centers on DoD and Energy sites to strengthen domestic AI infrastructure development.

Amazon is reportedly working to transform its Alexa assistant into an AI-powered agent, but it has faced issues like hallucinations and slow response speeds that, if launched, risk damaging the company’s brand and reputation.

The Mayo Clinic partnered with Microsoft and Cerebras to develop AI foundational models for medical image and genomic data analysis, hoping to revolutionize personalized medicine with faster diagnostics and precise treatment predictions.

OpenAI added GIP chairman and Blackrock executive Adebayo Ogunlesi to the company’s Board of Directors, bringing experience in infrastructure investment and global finance expertise.

French AI startup Bioptimus secured $41M in funding to develop a “GPT for biology” foundation model to simulate biological systems and predict disease outcomes.

Microsoft announced a new multiyear partnership with education giant Pearson to transform AI learning and workforce development, with plans to deliver AI-powered skilling solutions and certifications globally.

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