OpenAI upgrades the AI model powering its Operator agent

OpenAI is updating the AI model powering Operator, its AI agent that can autonomously browse the web and use certain software within a cloud-hosted virtual machine to fulfill users’ requests. Soon, Operator will use a model based on o3, one of the latest in OpenAI’s o series of “reasoning” models. Previously, Operator relied on a custom version of GPT-4o. By many benchmarks, o3 is a far more advanced model, particularly on tasks involving math and reasoning. “We are replacing the existing GPT‑4o-based model for Operator with a version based on OpenAI o3,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post. “The API version [of Operator] will remain based on 4o.” Operator is one among many agentic tools released by AI companies in recent months. Companies are racing to make highly sophisticated agents that can reliably carry out chores more or less without supervision. Google offers a “computer use” agent through its Gemini API that can similarly browse the web and take actions on behalf of users, as wel ... Read full article.