OpenAI has introduced a new AI-powered tool, “Operator,” which allows users to interact with websites by performing tasks such as typing, clicking, and scrolling. The tool, currently in a research preview stage and accessible only to OpenAI Pro subscribers, can help users complete various activities like booking travel, purchasing groceries, making restaurant reservations, and more.
In a recent blog post, OpenAI demonstrated how the tool works by showing a screenshot of Operator completing a task to find and book a highly rated one-day tour of Rome on Tripadvisor. Additionally, on LinkedIn, an OpenAI product partnerships employee thanked early contributors such as Tripadvisor, Booking.com, Priceline, Uber, and Hipcamp for collaborating on this new project.
PhocusWire has reached out to these companies for more details on their involvement. Rahul Todkar, head of data and AI at Tripadvisor, highlighted that this partnership marks a “pivotal step” in the development of dynamic AI workflows. He emphasized that Tripadvisor’s collaboration with OpenAI, especially on the Operator product, will help enhance the travel planning experience for users. “Our work together allows OpenAI’s growing audience to have streamlined access to all that Hipcamp has to offer, including the largest collection of bookable private campsites,” said Alyssa Ravasio, founder of Hipcamp.
According to OpenAI, the Operator tool can “see” websites through screenshots and interact with them using standard mouse and keyboard functions. This allows Operator to take actions on the web without the need for custom API integrations. In the event of errors, Operator can use its reasoning abilities to self-correct, and if it encounters challenges that require assistance, it can hand control back to the user for a smoother, collaborative experience.
Users can customize Operator with specific instructions for individual websites, such as setting preferences for refundable hotels or choosing only those with free breakfast on Priceline. However, Operator will still require user input for tasks like logging in or entering payment details.
While this technology is in its early stages, the rapid development of AI agents is prompting questions about the future of marketing strategies and search optimization. A recent post by Ethan Mollick, an associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, noted that as AI agents begin to navigate websites, brands will need to consider how agents prefer certain sites. For example, he pointed out that OpenAI’s Operator tends to favor purchasing from the top search result on Bing, while Anthropic’s Claude tool uses Yahoo Finance for stock prices.
In addition to the Operator tool, OpenAI has plans to further enhance its capabilities and expand access beyond Pro users to Plus, Team, and Enterprise users. The company also intends to integrate these functionalities into ChatGPT.
This development follows a similar partnership by Tripadvisor in early January with the AI-powered search engine Perplexity. The collaboration aims to improve travel planning by integrating Tripadvisor’s extensive reviews, AI-generated summaries, and Viator’s experience database into Perplexity’s chatbot-style search.
As AI tools like Operator continue to evolve, both consumers and companies will need to adapt to a rapidly changing digital landscape.