July 17 (Reuters) - OpenAI launched an artificial

intelligence agent for its popular chatbot ChatGPT on Thursday

that can complete complex tasks as the Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed

startup looks to get ahead of competitors in the AI race.

AI agents - considered to be an evolution of an assistant -

have been embraced across the tech world with large firms,

including Microsoft ( MSFT ), Salesforce ( CRM ) and Oracle,

spending billions on the technology to boost productivity and

make operations more cost efficient.

OpenAI's agent will combine aspects of its previous agentic

features, operator, which can interact with websites, and deep

research that can conduct multi-step research for advanced

tasks.

Starting Thursday, users of ChatGPT's Pro, Plus and Team

tiers can activate the chatbot's agentic capabilities.

ChatGPT's agent can complete tasks such as ordering an

outfit for a wedding while taking into account factors like

dress code and weather.

The chatbot does this by using its own virtual computer

equipped with a number of tools that can interact with the web.

It also allows the user to connect apps such as Gmail and Github

so ChatGPT can find information relevant to a prompt.