OpenAI’s Operator: The Future of AI Agents or a Glimpse of What’s to Come?
A little too ‘hands on’
My experience with OpenAI’s new AI agent, Operator, has left me wondering about the future of AI agents. While Operator is the closest thing I’ve seen to the tech industry’s vision of AI agents, it still has a long way to go.
Agent as a Platform
In my tests, I encountered websites that blocked Operator, including Expedia, Reddit, and YouTube. However, services like Instacart, Uber, and eBay have chosen to collaborate with OpenAI, allowing the agent to navigate their websites on behalf of humans. These businesses are preparing for a future where a subset of user interactions are facilitated by an AI agent.
Trust Issues
I had some issues trusting Operator after it hallucinated a few times, nearly costing me several hundred dollars. For instance, I asked the agent to find me a parking garage near my new apartment, and it suggested two garages that it said would take just a few minutes to walk to. However, it ended up suggesting garages that were actually 20-30 minutes away from my apartment.
Conclusion
OpenAI’s Operator is an impressive proof of concept, but it’s clear that there’s still a long way to go before we can rely on AI agents to handle mundane tasks on our behalf. Until then, humans will be stuck assisting agents, not the other way around. With Operator, OpenAI has built some impressive tools to let AI systems browse the web, but these tools won’t amount to much until the underpinning AI can reliably do what users ask it to do.
FAQs
Q: What is OpenAI’s Operator?
A: OpenAI’s Operator is a new AI agent that can browse the web and perform tasks on behalf of users.
Q: What can Operator do?
A: Operator can perform tasks such as booking reservations, making purchases, and filling out forms.
Q: Is Operator reliable?
A: Currently, Operator requires human intervention to complete tasks, and it’s prone to hallucinations and mistakes.
Q: What’s the future of AI agents like Operator?
A: The future of AI agents like Operator is uncertain, but they have the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with technology.
