OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research organization behind the popular ChatGPT language model, is reportedly close to releasing a powerful AI tool called Operator. According to sources, including software engineer Tibor Blaho, Operator is an "agentic" system capable of autonomously handling tasks such as writing code and booking travel, making it a significant development in the AI agent space.

The Information has previously reported that OpenAI is targeting January as the release month for Operator, and recent code discoveries by Blaho add credence to this claim. Specifically, Blaho found hidden options in OpenAI's ChatGPT client for macOS to define shortcuts to "Toggle Operator" and "Force Quit Operator," suggesting that the tool is nearing completion.

Further evidence of Operator's existence can be found on OpenAI's website, where Blaho discovered references to the tool, including tables comparing its performance to other computer-using AI systems. Although these tables may be placeholders, they imply that Operator is not 100% reliable, depending on the task. For instance, on the OSWorld benchmark, which mimics a real computer environment, OpenAI's Computer Use Agent (CUA) scores 38.1%, ahead of Anthropic's computer-controlling model but well short of human performance.

However, Operator excels in certain areas, such as navigating and interacting with websites, where it surpasses human-level scores on the WebVoyager benchmark. Nevertheless, the tool struggles with tasks that humans can perform easily, like signing up with a cloud provider and launching a virtual machine, where it succeeds only 60% of the time, and creating a Bitcoin wallet, where it succeeds a mere 10% of the time.

The imminent release of Operator comes as tech giants, including Google and Anthropic, make plays for the nascent AI agent market, which is projected to be worth $47.1 billion by 2030, according to analytics firm Markets and Markets. While AI agents are still in their early stages, experts have raised concerns about their safety, should the technology rapidly improve.

One of the leaked charts shows Operator performing well on selected safety evaluations, including tests that try to get the system to perform "illicit activities" and search for "sensitive personal data." This focus on safety is likely a response to criticism that OpenAI has received for allegedly de-emphasizing safety work in favor of quickly productizing its technology.

In a recent X post, OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba criticized Anthropic for releasing an agent he claims lacks safety mitigations. Zaremba's comments highlight the importance of prioritizing safety in AI agent development, especially as the technology advances and becomes more integrated into our daily lives.

As OpenAI prepares to release Operator, the tech industry will be watching closely to see how this powerful AI tool will be received and what implications it will have for the future of artificial intelligence.