March 11 (Reuters) - OpenAI launched new tools for

developers on Tuesday that will help them build advanced AI

agents, using a few application programming interfaces (APIs),

amid growing competition from Chinese AI startups.

AI agents are designed to independently execute complex

real-world tasks without direct human intervention, while API is

a strings of code which enables standardized communication,

data exchange and functionality between software components.

The new tool, called the Responses API, is available to all

developers at no additional cost. It replaces OpenAI's

Assistants API, which is set to be phased out by the second half

of 2026.

The development comes close on the heels of release of

latest AI models by Chinese startups which claim to be on par or

better than industry-leading models in the United States at a

fraction of the cost.

Chinese startup Monica has grabbed attention over the past

few days after its launched its autonomous AI agent Manus, weeks

after DeepSeek was showered with praise by Silicon Valley

executives and U.S. tech company engineers.

Monica, which claims that its Manus AI outperforms OpenAI's

DeepResearch agent, said on Tuesday that it was partnering with

the team behind Alibaba's Qwen AI models.