ChatGPT Gets One Step Closer to Managing Your Life

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OpenAI has been busily improving ChatGPT over the past few months, and now it’s adding another new capability to make it a more proactive AI assistant. Starting today, paid ChatGPT subscribers can ask the AI chatbot to set reminders and perform recurring actions using advanced language models.

Dubbed “Tasks,” the feature is still considered a beta, and while it uses the GPT-4o model, you’ll need to select the “GPT-4o with scheduled tasks” model to use it. While that model is available on the web and in ChatGPT’s Mac, iPhone, and iPad apps, you’ll have to visit the web to see the list of tasks you’ve created. There’s no way to ask ChatGPT to show you this yet; instead, you must select your profile picture from the top-right corner of the ChatGPT web app and choose Tasks from there.

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The Tasks feature is rolling out to Plus, Team, and Pro ChatGPT subscribers, but there’s no word yet on when it will come to free users beyond “eventually.”

The feature works essentially as you’d expect, letting you ask ChatGPT to do just about anything it normally could, but at a specific time. This can be something as simple as reminding you to take out the trash to collating a morning news summary of specific topics, or preparing a bedtime story for your kids each night. These can also be one-time actions or recurring tasks.

The system may also suggest tasks based on the things you’ve requested, but it won’t create any scheduled tasks without your explicit approval.

ChatGPT with scheduled tasks

The need to choose a specific language model also means you can’t (yet) create ChatGPT tasks through the Apple Intelligence integration in iOS 18.2 since that uses the standard GPT-4o rather than the required “GPT-4o with scheduled tasks.” This capability may eventually arrive when Tasks is out of beta, assuming OpenAI moves it into the standard GPT-4o model.

You’ll receive notifications of scheduled tasks through the ChatGPT app, assuming you’re running it on your iPhone and have given it the necessary permissions to send you notifications. While there’s Apple’s Reminders app and a collection of third-party apps that are all likely far better at handling routine reminders, the ChatGPT integration seems handy for performing actions that only an AI model can do, especially when combined with the new ChatGPT Search feature that debuted last year and its ability to provide real-time results.

ChatGPT tasks

For instance, you could create a task that would provide updates on team standings for your favorite sports leagues or players or investment news related to your specific holdings combined with currency and commodity exchange rates. While other apps can do these things, ChatGPT’s advanced language model can refine results in unique ways that can add an extra dimension and let you get far more specific and focused results. It can also collect and analyze data from multiple sources. Essentially, anything you could ask ChatGPT to do directly can now be scheduled as a recurring task.

Paid ChatGPT users should see the option over the next few days, if it’s not already there. Just remember that it’s in beta right now, so it’s probably not a good idea to rely on it too heavily just yet.



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