OpenAI has launched one of its most ambitious tools to date: ChatGPT Agent, a fully functional AI assistant designed to carry out complex, end-to-end tasks with minimal human input. More than just a chatbot, this new agent can plan, research, execute, and deliver results across both personal and professional domains. It represents a turning point for marketers, creatives, analysts, and operations teams looking to streamline workflows, reduce manual effort, and unlock new levels of efficiency.

The release brings together OpenAI’s existing technologies, Operator, Deep Research, and the conversational capabilities of ChatGPT into one unified system that doesn’t just answer questions but takes action.

Available now to Pro, Plus and Team users, ChatGPT Agent is already raising eyebrows across the tech industry, not least because its performance appears to outpace Microsoft’s Copilot on several key benchmarks.

From Chatbot to Task Handler

For marketers, ChatGPT Agent shifts the AI value proposition from content ideation and drafting to full execution. You can now brief the agent in natural language and watch it complete entire projects, no templates, code or manual toggling required.

Ask ChatGPT to research your top three competitors, generate a brand comparison report, and convert the findings into a fully editable slide deck. Or have it review your upcoming campaign schedule, summarise industry trends that may impact performance, and produce a structured brief for your team. It will browse, analyse, write, format and deliver, all in one flow.

This is made possible through the agent’s ability to operate its own virtual computer. It dynamically chooses the right tools, browser, terminal, connectors, or APIs to complete each task. You remain in control: it asks permission before taking consequential actions, and you can pause or intervene at any time.

Not the First Attempt at Agentic AI

But let’s be honest. While many SaaS sales decks have highlighted this promise, an AI that can actually do work, agentic AI has mostly underdelivered so far 😞

In practice, these systems often require heavy configuration, constant hand-holding, and workarounds to deal with broken connectors or vague context. Instructions like “book a meeting room and notify attendees” often sound simple but turn out to be more trouble than they’re worth. Getting multiple tools to talk to each other meaningfully has been hit and miss.

So it’s no surprise that marketers are watching OpenAI’s move here with cautious optimism. The ambition isn’t new. What’s different is the integration.

ChatGPT Agent combines browsing, file handling, app integration, and structured output in one consistent experience. No more stitching together half-baked point solutions or trying to coordinate four tools to complete a single task. You give it a goal, and it works out the how.

Strong Benchmarks, Real Use Cases

What gives ChatGPT Agent credibility is its performance across industry benchmarks. In spreadsheet-based tasks, it scored 45.5% accuracy, more than double Microsoft Copilot’s 20%. It also outperformed both human baselines and OpenAI’s earlier models in data analysis, investment modelling, and browsing-based research.

This means ChatGPT Agent can not only produce slides, reports and summaries, but also update spreadsheets, run financial calculations, analyse competitors, or convert raw dashboards into usable documents. For marketers and content teams, these are real-world use cases, automating the kind of low-level work that eats into productive hours.

Campaign prep, pitch deck drafts, client QBRs, social content calendars, these are all now within reach of partial or full automation, especially for teams managing high-volume workflows.

Safety, Oversight and Control

With all this autonomy comes risk. OpenAI has implemented several safeguards: agents must request explicit permission before taking consequential actions, sensitive tasks require user oversight in “watch mode,” and session data can be wiped instantly. It does not store passwords and has built-in defences against prompt injection attacks.

This makes the system more appropriate for professional use, especially for teams managing sensitive data or high-profile accounts. But users are still advised to treat it as a powerful, experimental tool, not something to be handed free rein.

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has framed this as “cutting edge and experimental,” and warned that users should not yet rely on it for high-stakes or personal tasks. The model can be interrupted or adjusted mid-task, but still requires thoughtful prompts and supervision.

A New Operating Layer for Work?

Experts have described ChatGPT Agent as the future of operating systems, one where we don’t open apps and follow workflows, but simply describe a goal and let the system work out the method. That’s an attractive idea for marketers constantly navigating between dashboards, analytics platforms, CRMs and spreadsheets.

Instead of assigning someone to manually gather data, design visuals and prepare presentations, you could delegate that entire process to an AI agent, and spend your time reviewing insights, not formatting charts.

For now, ChatGPT Agent is still in early development. Slide generation is functional but rough. Some outputs need polish. Not every task works seamlessly. But the underlying capability is there, and that’s the real shift.

What Comes Next

ChatGPT Agent is now available to paid ChatGPT users, with enterprise access expected soon. Users can activate agent mode through the tools dropdown and begin assigning tasks in plain language, whether it’s pulling data, building decks, summarising emails or planning travel.

This isn’t just another AI update. It’s a potential new way of working. If OpenAI gets this right, it won’t just augment marketers, it could become part of the team. And for those who’ve been let down by earlier promises of agentic AI, this might be the first time the reality starts to live up to the pitch.