OpenAI will let other apps deploy its computer-operating AI

Agents have been called the future of AI, and now OpenAI is trying to help developers build their own. The company is releasing a new Response API that provides developers with the building blocks to create agents capable of searching the web, scraping files, and performing tasks on computers on their behalf.

"There are some agents we'll be able to build ourselves, like Deep Research and Operator," Olivier Godement, product lead for the OpenAI platform, tells The Verge. "But the world is so complex, there are so many industries and use cases... and so we're very excited to provide those foundations, those building blocks, for developers to build the best agents for their use case, their needs."

The Response API comes with a web search tool built on the same model that ChatGPT uses for search, allowing developers to get real-time information and quotes from the web when using GPT-4o and GPT-4o Mini. It also has a computer-use feature that uses the company's operator model to perform tasks on behalf of the user. The Response API also has a tool for searching large volumes of documents, which OpenAI describes as a way to help customer support agents filter frequently asked questions or help a legal assistant locate past cases. Along with the Response API, OpenAI also announced the Agent SDK, which it describes as a way for developers to "orchestrate" the workflow of AI agents. "The Response API is like an atomic unit of using models and tools to perform a particular task," Nikunj Handa, a product manager on OpenAI's API team, told The Verge. "The Agent SDK contains many of those atomic units that work together to solve even more complex tasks." This will make it easier for developers to manage all of their agents and ensure they work toward the same goal. The rollout of the Response API and Agent SDK builds on existing tools OpenAI offers to developers, including the Chat Completion API, which lets developers build AI tools that answer users' queries. OpenAI also plans to replace its Assistant API with the Response API in mid-2026. The company says it has "incorporated significant improvements to the Response API" using feedback provided by developers about the Assistant API. You can find out more about OpenAI's new developer tools on its website.