ChatGPT Agent: your new AI coworker (that actually does stuff)

What is the AI news?

OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Agent, a next-level AI assistant that doesn’t just talk - it acts. This isn’t your typical chatbot. Agent can browse the web, operate software in a virtual machine, and complete multi-step tasks like building a PowerPoint from a P&L sheet, performing UX audits, or analysing 1,300 support emails to summarise customer complaints. Essentially, it can use a computer the way a human does - keyboard, mouse, browser and all.

Even more intriguing: it seems to be powered by an unannounced model, possibly beyond GPT-4o, suggesting OpenAI is rolling out stronger models quietly under the hood.

Why it matters

Technical writers often juggle research, formatting, analysis, and presentation. This agent could handle all of that - hands-free. Imagine feeding it a spec document and asking for a stakeholder-friendly summary in slide format. Or getting a quick competitive analysis report without digging through dozens of tabs.

And yes, it can actually click through websites, log in, and pull data. That’s a game-changer for anyone working across tools like Jira, Confluence, Notion, or analytics dashboards.

How it helps you

Think of ChatGPT Agent as your virtual research, formatting, and compliance assistant. It could:

• Pull compliance references automatically: Upload the machinery directive or an ISO standard and have the agent extract only the requirements relevant to your product’s user manual.
• Scan Jira tickets or GitHub issues: Summarise bug reports and feature updates into plain-language release notes or changelog entries.
• Audit your Confluence space: Flag outdated pages, broken links, or inconsistent terminology across large documentation sets.
• Generate illustrations and warnings: Take raw CAD exports, screenshots, or specs, and format them into clear safety illustrations or step-by-step diagrams.
• Build comparison tables: From multiple spec sheets, create a side-by-side feature matrix for inclusion in a manual or knowledge base.
• Extract FAQs from support channels: Analyse thousands of Zendesk/Intercom tickets and surface the recurring questions that should be added to documentation.
• Produce documentation variants: Quickly generate localised versions or simplified end-user guides from the main technical doc.
  
  

Of course, it’s not perfect (one OpenAI staffer said it took an hour to order cupcakes), and it comes with serious safety guardrails - watch modes, disabled memory, and risk controls. But its productivity ceiling is high.

Bonus insight: Agent currently isn’t available in Europe, but that might be a blessing in disguise. By the time it rolls out, it could be smoother, faster, and maybe… cupcake-capable.

Bottom line?

This isn’t just AI generating text. It’s AI doing your job alongside you. As these tools mature, technical writers could shift from "creators" to "directors" - orchestrating content workflows with an AI that clicks, scrolls, and builds. It’s early days, but if you’re documenting systems, Agent might soon become part of the system itself.