OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issues strong warning over new ChatGPT service

OpenAI has launched a hot new programme which 'can do work for you using its own computer', but the company's boss has issued a stark warning to those wanting to get their hands on it.

The new technology, dubbed ChatGPT Agent, can complete 'complex tasks from start to finish'.

It can look at your calendar and brief you on any upcoming client meetings you might have, create a deck slide based on its own competitor analysis, or it can even buy ingredients for you to cook a nice family meal, according to the product lead and research lead on ChatGPT Agent, Yash Kumar and Isa Fulford.

But while the swanky new tech is certainly an exciting prospect, anyone wanting to use it should proceed with caution, according to OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman.

"I would explain this to my own family as cutting edge and experimental; a chance to try the future," Altman said on Twitter, "but not something I’d yet use for high-stakes uses or with a lot of personal information until we have a chance to study and improve it in the wild."

He continued: "We don’t know exactly what the impacts are going to be, but bad actors may try to 'trick' users’ AI agents into giving private information they shouldn’t and take actions they shouldn’t, in ways we can’t predict.

"We recommend giving agents the minimum access required to complete a task to reduce privacy and security risks."

Altman went on to say he'd be happy to give the tool access to his calendar so it can find a time to schedule in a group dinner, but he doesn't need to permit that same access if he's simply asking the agent to buy him some clothes.

An example he gave, which would present more risk to users, would be if you told the agent: "Look at my emails that came in overnight and do whatever you need to do to address them, don't ask any follow up questions."

"This could lead to untrusted content from a malicious email tricking the model into leaking your data," he warned.

Meanwhile, the CEO of encrypted messaging app Signal has aired her own concerns regarding the potential security risks of adopting 'agentic' AI.

While doing a talk at SXSW, Meredith Whittaker said: "There's a profound issue with security and privacy that is haunting this sort of hype around agents, and that is ultimately threatening to break the blood-brain barrier between the application layer and the OS player by conjoining all these separate services, muddying their data.

"Because hey, the agent's got to get in, text your friends, pull the data out of your texts and summarise that so that your brain can sit in a jar and you're not doing any of that yourself."