- ChatGPT’s new Tasks feature can schedule recurring reminders and alerts.
- ChatGPT can use tasks to proactively suggest alerts and notifications.
- Tasks are currently only available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers.
ChatGPT has started testing a new feature that will make the AI chatbot much more effective as a digital secretary. The Tasks tool, now in beta, augments ChatGPT responses with a schedule. This means you can set up reminders, alerts and other regular notifications.
You can even get a daily weather report at 7 a.m. to decide whether or not to bring an umbrella, a monthly reminder to refill your library books, and all those coworker’s birthdays you keep forgetting.
This is a major step for ChatGPT as a proactive assistant. Not only will the AI maintain your list of reminders, it will even suggest some based on your conversations. For example, if you casually mention in conversation that you’re planning a trip, it might remind you to pack your passport, book a dog sitter, or check if your Airbnb has an ocean view. Of course, these suggestions only appear if you approve them.
No one wants their AI assistant to take the plunge and plan a romantic dinner for you and your ex. All this scheduling power is handled through a dedicated Tasks section in the ChatGPT web interface, for now.
Notifications for completed tasks appear on all devices, whether you’re on your laptop or phone and there is a limit of 10 active tasks at a time. However, you can modify or cancel tasks according to your needs.
AI task
For now, Tasks is only available to people paying for ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro. Free tier users will have to wait to see if this feature will be available after beta testing since OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has hinted that he is considering raising prices for existing subscription tiers even before release of this new functionality.
Still, it’s remarkable how this feature moves ChatGPT toward a more “agent-like” model, where it’s less reactive and more able to anticipate your needs. Of course, this depends on whether ChatGPT matches what OpenAI claims it can do without fumbling.
Other AI assistants sometimes have a checkered history, misunderstood reminders, or date confusion. And even if it is accurate, the draw for Tasks is still unknown. Proactive is, by definition, intrusive.
Not everyone is comfortable with an AI telling you things without you initiating the conversation, even if it’s just to remind you to floss every night.
