ChatGPT Can Now Schedule Tasks in Advance

Starting Jan. 14, some ChatGPT subscribers can use the generative AI to set reminders or add to their routines. For example, OpenAI said, ChatGPT can provide weekly news briefings or a daily weather report. The content will be delivered as notifications on desktop (macOS), browser, and mobile.

What does the tasks feature in ChatGPT do?

The tasks feature instructs ChatGPT to create content at a certain date and time. This content may be preset reminders — such as “Department meeting” — or newly generated text like affirmations or summaries of the news.

ChatGPT can suggest tasks based on conversations. Users may set up to 10 tasks while the feature is in beta.

How to set up a task or reminder in ChatGPT

Tasks is available to Plus, Team, or Pro-level subscribers.

To access it, select “4o with scheduled tasks” in the model picker. Users at these tiers can create tasks through ChatGPT on the web, on the desktop application, or in the mobile app. However, the tasks manager pane is only available through ChatGPT on a web browser.

In the tasks management pane, users can specify specific dates for when the tasks feature should send them reminders. Settings for recurring reminders are also found in the tasks management pane. While the instructions for the task are given in the form of a natural language prompt, the date selection in the tasks manager dashboard appears to be a conventional drop-down menu.

OpenAI plans to eventually release the tasks feature to all tiers, including for free, the company said on X on Jan. 14.

OpenAI’s move toward agentic AI

Tasks in ChatGPT continue the trend in generative AI of “agentic” tools, which chain together multiple prompts autonomously to perform relatively complex actions. Tasks’ ability to remind users of upcoming meetings could compete with Google Calendar, Apple’s Siri or mobile calendar, or Amazon Alexa.

The difference between the tasks feature and a conventional calendar or to-do list may be seen most clearly in generative AI’s more creative-sounding abilities. For example, one of OpenAI’s prompts is “Start my day with daily affirmations at 7 am.” This is agentic in that it combines multiple prompts: sending a reminder at 7 AM every day and generating an affirmation.

SEE: Our ChatGPT cheat sheet rounds up the generative AI’s new features.

Still, ChatGPT with tasks replicates much of what existing technology can do, with the added challenge of the generative aspect potentially introducing inaccuracies and misunderstandings. Older applications can send reminders without using as much energy and resources.

Meanwhile, both Google and Microsoft announced changes to how they package generative AI on Jan. 15. Microsoft added agents — based on OpenAI’s GPT-4o — to the commercial tier of Microsoft 365. Google added Gemini Advanced and Notebook LM Plus to Google Workspace Business and will add it to Enterprise tiers in late January.

TechRepublic has reached out to OpenAI for more information.