Recent code changes to ChatGPT's client-side code suggest that OpenAI's Operator agent tool may be released sooner rather than later as an early research preview for users on the $200 Pro subscription plan. A user on X, who goes by Choi, spotted these updates, which were later confirmed by TechCrunch through separate identification of references to Operator on OpenAI's website.

The code changes reveal three interesting tidbits about Operator. Firstly, there are multiple references to the operator.chatgpt.com URL, which currently redirects to the main chatgpt.com web page. Secondly, a new popup will inform users that they need to upgrade their plan to try Operator, stating that "Operator is currently only available to Pro users as an early research preview." Lastly, OpenAI will add "Access to research preview of Operator" as one of the benefits of the Pro plan on the page listing the Plus and Pro plans.

Operator is a general-purpose agent that can perform tasks in a web browser for users, as previously reported by Bloomberg. This means that users can instruct Operator to perform mundane tasks, such as following someone on LinkedIn, adding an expense in Concur, assigning a task to someone in Asana, or changing the status of a prospect on Salesforce, with minimal clicks. The agent can perform these multi-step tasks based on an instruction set.

More recently, The Information reported that OpenAI could launch Operator as early as this week. With these code changes, it seems like everything is ready for a public launch. Notably, Operator will be usable on ChatGPT's website, meaning it won't interact with users' local computers. Instead, OpenAI will likely run a web browser on its own servers to perform tasks for users.

This development is significant, as it indicates that OpenAI's ability to interact with computers is progressing. Operator is a specific sandboxed implementation of the company's underlying agentic framework. It will be interesting to see if the company has more information to share on the technology that powers Operator.

In a related development, Anthropic has released an AI model that can control a PC using a "Computer Use" API and local tools that control the mouse and keyboard. This feature is currently available as a beta feature for developers. While Operator and Anthropic's AI model differ in their approach, they both demonstrate the growing capabilities of AI in interacting with and automating tasks on computers.

The potential implications of Operator and similar technologies are vast. As AI models become more sophisticated, they could revolutionize the way we interact with computers and perform tasks online. With the possibility of early research preview access to Operator, users may soon get a glimpse into the future of task automation in web browsers.