ChatGPT is likely the world's most popular chatbot, with around 300 million weekly active users as of December 2024. It has evolved significantly from the simple question-and-answer chatbot it was in late 2022 when it launched. Today, it functions as a full platform that can search the web, execute code with an inbuilt interpreter, and even remember previous conversations. In 2024, OpenAI released significant updates to the platform. You can find our recap here. Now, OpenAI is taking it even further. The company announced a new feature launching as a beta for ChatGPT paying customers, including those on the Plus, Team, and Pro subscription plans. This feature, called Tasks, will allow users to schedule reminders or frequent requests.

This means users will soon be able to ask ChatGPT to remind them to take out the trash every Wednesday evening, for example, and ChatGPT will send a push notification when the time comes. Web search is available to ChatGPT when handling your schedules. To try out Tasks, select the "4o with scheduled tasks" option from the dropdown menu in the ChatGPT interface. After selecting it, a modal will appear where you can type your instructions. There's a dedicated page where users can manage scheduled tasks, modify the name or instructions, adjust the schedule, and pause or delete notifications for existing tasks. ChatGPT may sometimes pull information from your conversation to suggest tasks. If you're concerned about this feature but don't want to pay for a subscription, don't worry. OpenAI typically tests beta features with paying customers before rolling them out to everyone. This time, it's no different, and Tasks will be available to more users once the beta period ends.