Why OpenAI Is Racing to Make Computer Use Superhuman
OpenAI's Ari Weinstein and James Sun join a16z to explain why computer-using agents are nearing superhuman speed, and how consumers and enterprises can safely hand real work to them.
The gist
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Weinstein says computer use is now faster than the average human and close to beating expert users, which he expects to change how everyone uses computers.
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For enterprises, Sun describes controls that sandbox which apps and websites the agent can use and require human approval for actions like downloads.
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Sun points to procurement, month-end finance reconciliation and sales prospecting as boring but promising tasks, while Weinstein has it maintain his finance and meal-planning spreadsheets in Apple Numbers.
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Both former founders say startups still have room in slower-moving industries, citing a restaurant tool that orders groceries and adjusts staff schedules.
"I think Dots is really cool for a few reasons. One is it's really proactive... Dots now is catching these things for me. It's like, 'There's this invite that's in your inbox. It's not on your calendar. Do you want me to accept it in your Gmail so it shows up?' So that's been a..."
▶ Play at 6:0310 creators recommend it, including Riley Brown, Alexander Bericos, and Claire Vo.
See all on the Dots page"I used to have this Slack job using automations and Codex that's like every hour or every 30 minutes go and try to pull things... going to Sentry, downloading the logs, feeding into Codex, asking for thoughts."
▶ Play at 7:0497 creators recommend it, including Riley Brown, Claire Vo, and Dan Shipper.
See all on the Codex page"I'm maintaining spreadsheets about my finance and spreadsheets about meal planning... I use Apple Numbers, which is an obscure spreadsheet program, but the model still knocks it out... It's a surprisingly great spreadsheet software."
▶ Play at 24:55What they recommend · 3 picks
"I think Dots is really cool for a few reasons. One is it's really proactive... Dots now is catching these things for me. It's like, 'There's this invite that's in your inbox. It..."
"I'm maintaining spreadsheets about my finance and spreadsheets about meal planning... I use Apple Numbers, which is an obscure spreadsheet program, but the model still knocks it..."
"I used to have this Slack job using automations and Codex that's like every hour or every 30 minutes go and try to pull things... going to Sentry, downloading the logs, feeding ..."
James Sun
2 picks · guest
"I think Dots is really cool for a few reasons. One is it's really proactive... Dots now is catching these things for me. It's like, 'There's this invite that's in your inbox. It..."
"I used to have this Slack job using automations and Codex that's like every hour or every 30 minutes go and try to pull things... going to Sentry, downloading the logs, feeding ..."
Ari Weinstein
1 pick · guest
"I'm maintaining spreadsheets about my finance and spreadsheets about meal planning... I use Apple Numbers, which is an obscure spreadsheet program, but the model still knocks it..."
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