ChatGPT is ridiculously good at using your browser. Great for everything you want done, but don’t want to do.
Last week, I used ChatGPT with 5.6 Sol to roll over a 401(k) account from Twilio, a previous employer of mine, to a plan offered by OpenAI.
I signed in to both plans in Chrome, opened the ChatGPT extension, and asked it to start the rollover. It asked for some approvals and details along the way (like my address), but in ~10 minutes it had used my browser to submit the rollover request to my old plan and create an incoming request in my current plan. It also set up a scheduled task to check my email for when my old plan dispatched the rollover check and suggest the nearest UPS store for dispatch the check overnight to my new plan. The same task also checked for delivery updates from UPS and email confirmations from my current plan to notify me when my check was deposited.
I left Twilio in 2020. This is a task I had been putting off for SIX years!
It was just inconvenient enough to discourage me from doing it, especially navigating the rollover UX in Fidelity and Schwab, but not critical enough to be existential.
Although in hindsight, I probably lost out on some returns from not switching to OpenAI's plan sooner because they offered better investment options!
Life is full of tasks like this:
- Returning the $20 item from Amazon you don't need anymore
- Canceling the $12 subscription you stopped using two months ago
- Disputing a small incorrect charge
- Submitting a reimbursement request
- Redeeming an airline credit before it expires
- Activating a limited-time cash-back or points offer on your credit card
- Booking a routine doctor or dentist appointment
- Using the $20 gift card sitting in your inbox
When the cost of waiting is obvious, we usually act. If you don't like a $400 jacket, you return it immediately. But most of the tasks above are easier to postpone. The cost of ignoring a $20 return, a small recurring charge, or an unused credit-card offer is easy to ignore because they don't create enough urgency on their own.
How browser use with ChatGPT works
Most of these tasks happen in the same place: your browser. And with 5.6 Sol, ChatGPT is excellent at using it.
In fact, I'll make a bold claim.
ChatGPT is now better than most people at using websites, especially hard-to-navigate ones. While it can control a page visually when needed, it is not limited to using a mouse and keyboard. It can switch to writing and running code to interact with the page when it decides that's a faster and more reliable way to complete your task. With the ChatGPT extension from Chrome, you can start tasks right from the page you already have open.
Describe what you want done, and ChatGPT will get to work, asking for clarification when needed (it's really good at this!) and your approval for sensitive actions like submitting forms, adding credit card details and more.
https://x.com/OpenAIDevs/status/2075276009902112976
The Chrome extension also brings the full ChatGPT desktop experience into your browser, including access to your local files, skills and plugins. So while ChatGPT is returning an item on Amazon, it can use the Gmail plugin to find the order number, complete the return in Chrome and check Gmail again for confirmation. That ability to choose the right tool for each step is what makes it particularly powerful for life admin.
The next time you find yourself putting of a life admin task, give it to ChatGPT before you start hunting through emails and opening tabs. For example:
- Find the warranty for my broken coffee machine and file a claim.
- Reschedule the delivery I missed today for a time when I’ll be home.
- Find my latest internet bill. Compare it with what the company currently offers new customers to see if there are any ways for me to reduce it. Then log in to my account and draft a message I can send to customer support.
- Check whether the shoes I bought went on sale recently and request a price adjustment.
- Find the parking ticket I received and pay it before the late fee kicks in.
- Renew my dog’s license using the reminder in my email.
- Find the tracking number for my delayed package and ask the retailer for an update.
- Update my mailing address on the accounts that still have my old one.
A life with fewer loose ends
Using ChatGPT this way has made me more organized without requiring me to become a much more organized person. I still remember annoying tasks at inconvenient times and feel tempted to deal with them later. Now I can hand them to ChatGPT before I talk myself out of doing them.
It has also made me more reliable with friends and family. A surprising amount of showing up for people involves life admin: booking the trip, making the reservation, or taking care of the thing you said you would handle. When those tasks require less effort, I am much more likely to follow through.
So the next time an annoying task crosses your mind or you think of that thing you've been putting off, hand it off to ChatGPT before it becomes another loose end!
