OpenAI launches scheduled tasks feature in ChatGPT
OpenAI is rolling out a new scheduled tasks feature in ChatGPT, adding a dedicated Scheduled page and richer scheduling, monitoring, and notification options. According to OpenAI's help article, users can create one-off or recurring tasks from the Scheduled page or by asking ChatGPT, and tasks created in a project cannot access that project's files. 9to5Mac and OpenAI documentation report the system replaces Pulse within 14 days, caps task execution at once per hour, and may automatically pause unattended tasks after inactivity. 9to5Mac notes the experience is rolling out to Go, Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users on web and mobile. Editorial analysis: This centralised task UI and monitoring capability extends ChatGPT from conversational assistance toward lightweight background automation for end users, raising practical questions about notification permissions, privacy, and resource limits for large-scale monitoring.
What happened
OpenAI launched a new scheduled tasks feature in ChatGPT, rolling the experience out starting today, according to a help article on OpenAI's site and coverage by 9to5Mac. OpenAI is quoted explaining the feature: "With scheduled tasks, users can ask ChatGPT to send reminders, handle recurring work, or monitor things for them." The product adds a dedicated Scheduled page in the ChatGPT sidebar where users can view active tasks and pause, resume, edit, or delete them, per OpenAI's help article. The help article states users can create one-off and recurring tasks, create tasks by asking ChatGPT, and that tasks created in a project will not be able to access those project files.
Technical details
OpenAI's documentation and 9to5Mac list several operational limits and behaviours: scheduled checks are capped at running once per hour, and 9to5Mac reports that unattended tasks "may automatically pause after a period of inactivity." The help article describes notification flows and permissions, noting mobile push and desktop notifications require platform permissions and that ChatGPT will prompt for them after a first task is created. 9to5Mac reports the new scheduled tasks system will replace Pulse within 14 days and that the rollout targets Go, Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users on web and mobile.
Industry context
Editorial analysis: Centralising recurring actions and monitoring inside a conversational assistant mirrors broader product trends where assistant UIs incorporate lightweight automation and observability. Companies adding this kind of background tasking typically balance frequency limits, permission prompts, and explicit access controls to avoid privacy and scale problems. For practitioners, the hourly execution cap and project-file access restriction are concrete guardrails that influence how suitable ChatGPT tasks will be for polling-heavy or data-sensitive workflows.
What to watch
- •Whether OpenAI expands execution frequency or exposes task controls via an API, which would matter for integrations.
- •Admin and enterprise controls for auditing, data residency, and limits, given the rollout includes Business and Enterprise tiers as reported by 9to5Mac.
- •How notification reliability behaves across platforms once the feature reaches wider availability, since OpenAI's help doc links task notifications to platform permission flows.
Editorial analysis: Observers should also track Pulse's removal timeline and any developer-facing documentation that clarifies rate limits, billing, or privacy for monitoring tasks. These operational details will determine how practitioners and product teams can incorporate scheduled tasks into workflows.
Scoring Rationale
This is a notable product update for a widely used assistant that expands ChatGPT into background automation and monitoring. It matters for practitioners designing user workflows and integrations, but it is not a frontier-model or infrastructure change, so the impact sits in the midrange.
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