- ChatGPT’s new Tasks feature can schedule recurring reminders and alerts.
- ChatGPT can use tasks to suggest alerts and notifications proactively.
- Tasks is only available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers for now.
ChatGPT has begun testing a new feature that will make the AI chatbot much more effective as a digital secretary. The Tasks tool, now in beta testing, augments ChatGPT’s responses with a schedule. That means you can set up regular reminders, alerts, and other notifications.
You can even get a daily weather report at 7 a.m. to decide whether to bring an umbrella, a monthly reminder to renew your library books, and all those birthdays for your coworkers you keep forgetting.
This is a major step for ChatGPT as a proactive assistant. Not only will the AI maintain your list of reminders, but it will even suggest some based on your conversations. For example, if you casually mention in a chat that you’re planning a trip, it might remind you to pack your passport, book a dog sitter, or double-check if your Airbnb has an ocean view. Of course, these suggestions only happen if you approve them.
Nobody wants their AI assistant jumping the gun and scheduling a romantic dinner for you and your ex. All this scheduling power is managed through a dedicated Tasks section in the ChatGPT web interface, for now.
Notifications for completed tasks show up across devices, whether you’re on your laptop or your phone and there is a limit of 10 active tasks at a time. You can modify or cancel tasks as needed, though.
Task AI
For now, Tasks is exclusive to people paying for ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro. Free-tier users will have to wait to see if this feature becomes available after the beta testing since OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has hinted at looking to up the prices for existing subscription tiers even before this new feature came out.
Still, it’s notable how this feature moves ChatGPT toward more of the “agent” model, where it’s less reactive and more able to anticipate your needs. Of course, that depends on ChatGPT matching what OpenAI claims it can do without fumbling the job.
Other AI assistants sometimes have a checkered history, misunderstood reminders, or confusion about the date. And even if it is accurate, the draw of Tasks is still unknown. Proactive is, by definition, intrusive.
Not everyone is comfortable with an AI telling you things without you starting the conversation, even if it’s just to remind you to floss every night.
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