OpenAI is preparing to launch a new AI agent — codenamed “Operator” — that can take actions on a person's behalf such as writing code, making online purchases, or booking travel and restaurant reservations, according to Bloomberg sources.
The company's leadership team announced plans in a staff meeting to release the tool in January as a research preview through its API for developers.
OpenAI executives hinted at projects like Operator in a recent Ask Me Anything on Reddit. (See story #6 in Edition 198 for the highlights.)
Srinivas Narayanan, VP of Engineering, said about his future hopes for ChatGPT, “I'd love for it to understand my personal information better and take actions on my behalf.
OpenAI is not the only company working on AI-powered autonomous agents:
- Anthropic unveiled a tool in October that can understand what's happening on a user's computer screen and complete a range of online tasks for them.
- Microsoft also launched a set of AI tools last month that can send e-mails, manage records, and take other actions on behalf of business workers.
- It was “accidentally leaked” last month that Google is developing an AI tool that takes over a web browser to complete tasks such as research and shopping.
What does this mean for e-commerce?
If autonomous agents are about to take over our online shopping for us, how will that change the face of e-commerce? Will merchants begin structuring their product listings to cater to the agents instead of humans, similar to how bloggers had to adapt their writing styles to satisfy Google's ranking algorithm?
Which merchants and retailers will receive priority from the agents? How will price, fulfillment speed, reviews, website authority, social media mentions, and other user generated content impact an agent's selection? Will retailers be able to purchase “preference” from the AI agents to shop with them over competitors?
Who's responsible when an agent makes a mistake and purchases the wrong item? Will retailers adapt their returns / exchange policies in response to a potentially higher frequency of purchase mistakes made by agents? Will some retailers (like Amazon) block 3rd party AI agents and/or incentivize customers to use their own proprietary shopping agents?
Exciting times ahead!