Not So Smooth: OpenAI’s ‘Operator’ To Enter Crowded AI Agent Market
Maneesha Tiwari
Content Strategy Leader & GenAI Expert | Editorial Quality @ Scale | Ex-Microsoft, Reuters, BBC
The AI News Articulator Issue #24? (November 8, 2024 - November 16, 2024)
Hello and welcome back to a new edition of the AI News Articulator. It's remarkable how quickly the AI landscape has evolved since I started writing this newsletter earlier this year. From talking about chatbot upgrades and shiny new AI tools, we're now talking about AGI and AI agents in the span of just a few months. The conversations have shifted dramatically – AGI and AI agents, once distant concepts, seen only in the movies, are now getting ready to be released on devices for everyday use.?
This shift in focus mirrors a broader transformation in the AI industry, where we're seeing increased emphasis on complex applications like AI agents and on-device AI solutions.?
And this week's headlines paint quite the picture of AI's evolution – from Google's Gemini stepping into iPhone territory, to an ‘AI Granny’ giving phone scammers a taste of their own medicine (you'll find these stories, and more in the curated news section below).
But before that, the main story: OpenAI is reportedly launching its own AI agent in January 2025. Considering that Anthropic has already rolled out a beta version of Claude's computer use capabilities, and Google's Project Jarvis is reportedly waiting in the wings, is OpenAI late to the party? Let’s find out!
OpenAI’s ‘Operator’ Coming Soon, Reportedly
The maker of ChatGPT, is planning to release its own AI agent, codenamed ‘Operator’ in January 2025, according to a Bloomberg report.?
The AI Agent, which will be released as a research preview and API initially, will be able to take actions on behalf of users, including, controlling web browsers, writing code, or even making travel bookings, according to the report. These capabilities do not seem very different from the recent release by Anthropic and Google’s anticipated AI Agent, Jarvis.
For OpenAI, developing AI agents isn't just about automation — it's a critical milestone on their path to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). And in the past, CEO Sam Altman has spoken about AI agents being the killer app of AI. So then why is OpenAI seemingly lagging behind the? competition?
Is OpenAI Late to the AI Agents Party?
While OpenAI has done a good job of keeping itself in the headlines, whether it be about funding, its partnerships with Microsoft and Apple, it has surprisingly been slower than its competitors when it comes to rolling out updates to ChatGPT, and AI Agents.
Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI model, has developed a ‘computer use’ tool for its Claude model that allows it to write code, and even operate independently across applications, not just browsers. Microsoft is also incorporating AI agents into its Copilot model, enabling businesses to customize agents to perform specific tasks for users.?
Google is said to be developing an AI agent codenamed ‘Jarvis,’ according to a report by The Information. Jarvis, designed for web browsing, shopping, and booking flights, could be released as a Chrome extension, potentially beating OpenAI to the punch with a December launch, the report said.?
In contrast, OpenAI is facing challenges when it comes to its next big foundational model. Their Orion model, seemingly fell short of expectations partly due to insufficient coding data for training, according to reporting by Bloomberg. This setback may explain the company's more measured approach to releasing agent technology.
This careful stance was evident in Sam Altman's recent Reddit AMA session. When asked specifically about ChatGPT-5's release timeline, Altman responded, "we have some very good releases coming later this year! nothing that we are going to call gpt-5, though."?
The shift became clearer when Altman addressed questions about the development timeline for the o1 model - OpenAI's experimental agent framework. "We are prioritizing shipping o1 and its successors. All of these models have gotten quite complex and we can't ship as many things in parallel as we'd like to. (we also face a lot of limitations and hard decisions about how we allocate our compute towards many great ideas.)"
The Path Forward
AI companies have enjoyed a remarkable initial run, riding high on abundant internet data, massive investments from Big Tech and venture capital, minimal regulatory hurdles, and worldwide AI fever. But the rose colored glasses are slipping. As these companies push to advance their models, they're beginning to face roadblocks.
The path to creating reliable AI agents has proved more complex than anticipated: high-quality training data is becoming scarcer, environmental concerns about AI's energy consumption are mounting, and computing costs continue to soar. Additionally, as AI agents gain the ability to interact with real-world systems, questions about security, privacy, and ethics become increasingly critical.
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Despite these hurdles, the potential impact of AI agents like Operator could be transformative. For now, you still get to book your own flights, make hotel reservations on your own, and enjoy making these everyday decisions, because soon there will be AI agents who can do all this for you.?
And with that, I will wrap up this week's edition of the AI News Articulator. If you found the insights and curated news on AI valuable, subscribe here. See you next week!?
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(Disclaimer: The information contained in the "AI and Investing" section is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice from the author. Please consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.)
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