ChatGPT now lets you schedule reminders and recurring tasks
ChatGPT by OpenAI users can now ask the AI Assistant to schedule reminders or recurring requests. The new beta feature, called Tasks, will begin rolling out to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users around the world this week.
Through Tasks, users can set simple reminders using ChatGPT like “Remind me when my passport expires in six months,” and the AI assistant will follow up with a push notification on whatever platform you have enabled Tasks on. Users can now also assign recurring requests to ChatGPT, such as “Every Friday, give me a plan for the weekend based on my location and weather forecast” or “Give me a news summary every day at 7 a.m.”
The new task feature appears to be OpenAI’s first step into AI models that can operate somewhat autonomously, also known as AI agents. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, says so 2025 will be a big year for AI customersthey even claimed that they would “join the workforce” this year. Tasks is a somewhat limited version of the agent system, but it allows users to set reminders using ChatGPT, which is a practical feature that most people expect from assistants like Siri and Alexa. Scheduled information requests are more unique, showing new capabilities that previous digital assistants were not capable of.
Users can access tasks by selecting “4o with scheduled tasks” from the drop-down menu in ChatGPT. From there, they can send a message to ChatGPT telling the AI assistant what reminder or action they want to create. Sometimes, OpenAI says ChatGPT may suggest certain tasks based on chats. Users can assign and manage tasks by chatting with the AI assistant on any platform, or through a dedicated task management tab that is only available on the web app.
With the Tasks feature, ChatGPT can now browse the web on a set schedule, but it will not perform constant background searches or make purchases. For example, you can instruct ChatGPT to check concert tickets to see your favorite artist in your area once a month, but you can’t tell the AI assistant to alert you the moment tickets are posted, and ChatGPT can’t buy tickets for you. However, it is a step towards those systems.
OpenAI says it’s using this trial period to learn more about how people use Tasks before making the feature widely available on its mobile app and the free tier of ChatGPT. For this beta, the company says you can’t assign tasks through Advanced Voice Mode.
While AI assistants based on large language models have pushed the limits of what computers can do, they also struggle with some simple tasks that smartphones can do. OpenAI, Google, and other AI model developers had to come up with clever solutions to get their assistants to set timers and create reminders. Although these tasks are relatively low-risk, OpenAI wants ChatGPT to handle more complex tasks from now on.
OpenAI is preparing to launch more advanced agent systems, including an agent said to be called Operator that can write code and book travel. This system could come in the next few weeks, according to Bloomberg.
With more advanced proxy systems come more potential problems. The missions show a fairly controlled selection of agent capabilities, but OpenAI’s safeguards may be tested in the coming months as more autonomous AI systems are rolled out.
