official_announcement
OpenAI introduces Operator, a computer-use agent
A hosted agent that uses a browser is adjacent to, not the same as, a 402 client.
On 23 January 2025 OpenAI introduced Operator, an agent that can use a web browser to perform tasks. Computer-use agents can complete human checkout flows; they do not by themselves create a machine-native payment rail.
Why it matters
Browser agents increase pressure on merchants to offer deterministic machine checkout or 402 APIs rather than brittle DOM automation.
Source: OpenAI