OpenAI Operator Explored
🧠 Knowledge Series #58: What it is, how it works and how product teams can prepare for browsing agents. Get up to speed - quickly.
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Hi product people,
“OpenAI's Operator is a technological breakthrough that makes processes like ordering groceries incredibly easy.”
At least that’s what Instacart’s Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker said on the launch of OpenAI’s latest product.
But does using a browser agent like this really enhance the user experience? And what are the wider implications for product teams if browser operators become more popular, as predicted?
In this Knowledge Series, we’re going to go deep into what OpenAI Operator is, how it works, the technologies that underpin the new release, and explore some use cases together. We’ll take a look at how the initial batch of official companies who are working with OpenAI are using Operator along with some use cases you might want to try for yourself.
As well as this, we’ll consider what the upcoming release OpenAI Operator API could mean for product teams and how you can start to think about adapting your product’s strategy with these new browser operator / agentic capabilities in mind.
Coming up:
What is OpenAI Operator?
How does it work? Key features, capabilities and technologies
Use cases with examples from companies including Instacart, OpenTable, Booking and more
How product teams can prepare for browser agents like Operator, Anthropic Computer Use and others - opportunities for product teams explored
Ideas on how to use browser agents internally
What is OpenAI Operator?
Announced last week, OpenAI Operator is OpenAI’s first iteration of an AI agent that is capable of using a virtual browser and performing actions on a user’s behalf. Anthropic launched a similar feature last year called Computer Use but while Computer Use required a local developer environment set up, Operator is available directly through a web browser which makes it easier to use.
It’s currently only available to Pro subscribers but it is expected to roll out to a wider group of users once it has moved out of its initial research phase.
How does it work? Key features and capabilities
Operator uses a remote browser to interact with websites and complete user-assigned tasks, such as booking restaurant reservations, ordering groceries, or purchasing event tickets
Here’s a simplified snapshot of some of the core parts of how Operator works:
At the centre of Operator’s capabilities is OpenAI’s Computer Using Agent (CUA) model. This uses a combination of OpenAI’s technologies together to allow it to browse websites and perform actions on a user’s behalf.
This includes:
GPT-4o's vision capabilities
Advanced reasoning through reinforcement learning
Training to interact with graphical user interfaces (GUIs)
The process starts with a prompt as you might expect for this type of tool, where the user tells Operator what actions it wants Operator to perform. From there, Operator can “see” the website through screenshots and interact with it. CUA is specifically trained to understand and interact with the same UI elements that real users might use: buttons, text boxes, menus and other UX elements.
The Operator Task Execution Process explained
Users describe the task they want completed
Operator opens a cloud-based web browser
The AI navigates to the appropriate website
It interacts with the site's interface (clicking buttons, filling forms, etc.)
If challenges arise, Operator can self-correct or hand control back to the user
One of the reasons this is potentially transformative for users and product teams alike is that this type of interaction doesn’t require custom built API integrations; instead, the agent is able to interact with products and perform the same actions as a user without having to rely on APIs.
Here’s what one scientist at OpenAI had to say about this:
“Traditionally the way models have used software is through specialized APIs,” says Reiichiro Nakano, a scientist at OpenAI. That puts a lot of apps and most websites off limits, he says: “But if you create a model that can use the same interface that humans use on a daily basis, it opens up a whole new range of software that was previously inaccessible.”
This has potentially profound implications on the ways product teams build their products as usability expands to not only consider human interactions, but agents too. We’ll explore some considerations for product strategy later.
First, let’s take a look at some potential use cases of Operator together, including leading companies - as well as some ways Operator could be used at work.