On Jan. 23, OpenAI released a research preview of an agent called Operator, level 3, that can use its own browser to perform tasks for users. The tool is still in preview. It will require further development and refinement. Yet, this early version of a computer-using agent shows the enormous potential of the tool to enhance and enable efficiency and effectiveness in daily use in higher education teaching, learning and administration. Still to come this year is likely to be the level-4 Innovator that will mark artificial general intelligence. The AGI definition varies, but centers on an AI tool that encompasses broadly the collective knowledge and intelligence of a human. There is speculation that AGI does already exist in developmental models at the frontier AI enterprises such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, Meta and others. It may be two more years before the awe-inspiring artificial super intelligent tools are released.
