OpenAI launches new tools: Response API helps build AI agents

OpenAI released a new Responses API on Tuesday, aiming to help developers and businesses use the company's models and frameworks to build AI agents that can complete tasks independently. This toolkit will effectively replace OpenAI's assistant API, which is scheduled to be discontinued in the first half of 2026.

The response API allows enterprises to develop custom AI agents that can perform web searches, scan company files, and browse websites, and function similar to OpenAI's Operator products. Developers can use the same AI models as ChatGPT Search: gpt-40 search and gpt-40 mini search, which can find answers to questions online and reference sources when generating replies.

"Demonstration agents are very easy, but expanding the agent size is quite difficult, and getting people to use it often is also very difficult," Olivier Goldmond, product director of OpenAI, said in an interview. He hopes that OpenAI will bridge the gap between AI agent demonstrations and actual products this year, and believes that "agents are the most influential application of artificial intelligence."

In addition to the response API, OpenAI has released an open source toolkit called the Agents SDK, providing developers with free tools to help integrate models with internal systems, implement security measures, and monitor AI agent activity for debugging and optimization.

Although OpenAI claims its search model has a high degree of factual accuracy (gpt-40 search scored 90% on the benchmark and gpt-40 mini search scored 88%), the company acknowledged that there are still some limitations to these tools. Web search does not completely solve the AI ​​hallucination problem, and the computer's use of a proxy (CUA) model is "not very reliable for automated tasks on the operating system."

OpenAI official blog post: https://openai.com/index/new-tools-for-building-agents/