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ChatGPT tasks may start taking over your calendar and reminding you to finish your to-do list

ChatGPT tasks may start taking over your calendar and reminding you to finish your to-do list

ChatGPT's new Tasks feature can schedule recurring reminders and alerts.
ChatGPT can use tasks to proactively suggest alerts and notifications.
Tasks is only available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers for now.

ChatGPT has started 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 responses with a schedule. That means you can set reminders, alerts, and other periodic notifications.

You can even get a daily weather report at 7am to decide whether to bring an umbrella, a monthly reminder to renew your library books, and all those coworkers' birthdays you keep forgetting.

This is an important step for ChatGPT as a proactive assistant. Not only will the AI maintain your list of reminders, 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 check to see if your Airbnb has an ocean view. Of course, these suggestions are only made if you approve them.

No one wants their AI assistant to rush in and schedule a romantic dinner for you and your ex. All of this scheduling power is managed through a dedicated Tasks section in the ChatGPT web interface, for now.

Completed task notifications appear on all devices, whether you're on your laptop or phone, and there's a limit of 10 active tasks at a time. However, you can modify or cancel tasks as necessary.

AI Task

For now, Tasks is exclusive to people who pay for ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro. Users on the free tier will have to wait to see if this feature will be available after beta testing, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has hinted which will look to increase prices on existing subscription levels even before this new feature comes out.

Still, it's notable how this feature moves ChatGPT toward a more “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 losing work.

Other AI assistants sometimes have a checkered history, misunderstood reminders, or confusion about the date. And even if it's accurate, the Tasks draw is still unknown. Proactive is, by definition, intrusive.

Not everyone is comfortable with an AI telling you things without you initiating the conversation, even if it's just to remind you to floss every night.

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