ChatGPT has dazzled with its poetry, prose, and academic test scores. Now prepare for the precocious chatbot to find your next flight, recommend a restaurant with good seating, and fetch you a sandwich, too. Last week, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced that a slew of companies including Expedia, OpenTable, and Instacart have created plugins to let the chatbot access their services. Once a user activates a plugin, they will be able to ask ChatGPT to perform tasks that would normally require using the web or opening an app, and hopefully see the dutiful bot scurry off to do it. The move potentially heralds a big shift in how people use computers, apps, and the web, with clever AI programs completing chores on their behalf.

Because the plug isn't reversible, connecting a USB device to a computer can often be a frustrating experience. Because the plug isn't reversible, connecting a USB device to a computer can often be a frustrating experience. Your files are done syncing, and you go to plug in your thumb drive. Humiliated and discouraged, you flip it and try again. How could this be possible?