Generative artificial intelligence heavyweight OpenAI on Thursday previewed an AI agent that can carry out tasks on the web for users, as it seeks to enhance its chatbot amid intensifying competition.

The model underpinning Operator is a Computer-Using Agent (CUA) that combines GPT-4o's vision mode to "see" what's on the user's screen through screenshots with graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that enable Operator to interact with the screen (clicking buttons, typing, scrolling, etc.).

The company says the CUA’s reasoning technique, which they call an “inner monologue,” helps the model understand intermediate steps and adapt to unexpected input. Under the hood, CUA takes screenshots of web pages and uses a virtual mouse and keyboard to navigate.