OpenAI has launched a new beta ChatGPT feature called Tasks, which allows users to schedule future actions and remind them.
The new feature, which will be available to Plus, Team and Pro subscribers from today, is an effort to make the Chatbot more like a traditional digital assistant. Think Google Assistant or Siri, but with ChatGPT’s advanced language capabilities.
ChatGPT’s Tasks feature allows users to tell it what they want and when they want it done. Want to receive the daily weather report every morning at 7AM? A reminder about your passport expiration? Maybe you want to tell your children a joke before they go to bed? ChatGPT now handles all of this through scheduled one-time tasks or recurring ones.
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To access the feature, subscribers must select “4o with schedule tasks” from ChatGPT’s Model Picker. It’s easy to tell ChatGPT what you want done and when. The system can also suggest tasks based upon your conversations. However, users must approve any suggestions prior to creation. (Honestly, I think the suggestions could create something new. By accident, you may have created a slop .
You can manage all tasks either directly in chat or via a new Tasks menu (available only on the web). This makes it easy to modify and cancel any task that you have set up. Users will be notified via notifications on desktop, mobile, and web when these tasks are completed. There is also a limitation of 10 tasks that can be run simultaneously.
OpenAI didn’t specify when (or if), the feature could be made available to free users. This suggests Tasks may remain a premium option to justify ChatGPT subscription costs. The company offers $20 and $200 monthly subscriptions.
Although scheduling is a common feature of digital assistants, ChatGPT has a new functionality. Up until now, AI has only operated in real-time, responding to requests immediately, rather than managing ongoing tasks or future plans. OpenAI’s addition of Tasks indicates that ChatGPT is expanding its role beyond the realm of conversation to include territory traditionally held by virtual assistances.
OpenAI appears to have ambitions beyond simple scheduling for Tasks. Bloomberg has reported that “Operator”an autonomous AI agent capable to independently control computers, is scheduled for release this month. Reverse engineer Tibor Blaho discovered OpenAI is working on a codenamed “Caterpillar”which could integrate with Tasks to allow ChatGPT search for specific information and analyze problems, summarize data and navigate websites. Users would receive notifications when the task was completed.
In 2025, the rise of ‘agenttic’ AI is not just about technology advancement — it is about economics.
I wrote in October that it isn’t just about technical advancement. It is about economics. These agent-like features are a strategic way to monetize expensive AI Infrastructure. OpenAI’s decision of putting this functionality behind ChatGPT’s paywall was predictable. However, the real question is: will it produce reliable results? Last time I saw an OpenAI agent in action, it gave me inaccurate information. In the coming months, we will see if the team has overcome these fundamental reliability issues.
This new feature is also a slightly sophisticated script, but Tasks still follows a simple set of instructions. Many frontier AI labs, like OpenAI, are working to develop these features so that they can interact with environments, take feedback into account, and make decisions on their own without constant human input.
Questions remain, however, about the reliability of these scheduled tasks and what will happen if ChatGPT is unable to deliver time-sensitive data. OpenAI’s decision for Tasks to be launched in beta indicates that it is still working on these details and wants real-world feedback prior to a wider launch.
If you’re a ChatGPT paying user, you can experiment with Tasks right now by looking for “4o with schedule tasks” in your model selector. Remember that it is still in beta, so don’t rely too heavily on it to remind you of that important meeting just yet.
