March 12, 2025 – OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence company, unveiled a series of new developer tools yesterday, aimed at simplifying the process of creating AI agents and enhancing their capabilities. The announcement marks a significant step forward in making OpenAI’s API platform more practical and relevant for real-world applications.
Among the newly released tools is the Responses API, which integrates chat functionality with various tools such as web search and file search. Built upon the ChatGPT search model, this API provides real-time information with cited sources, offering developers a more versatile foundation for their work. Notably, OpenAI plans to phase out the Assistants API by 2026, shifting its focus to supporting the new Responses API. Described as a superset of existing chat functions, this API not only retains all previous features but also adds support for multiple tools.
Another notable addition is the Agents SDK, an open-source framework designed to coordinate complex workflows involving multiple AI agents. Derived from OpenAI’s experimental Swarm project, this SDK boasts features like agent handover, safety barriers, and comprehensive debugging and tracking capabilities. Furthermore, it facilitates efficient information retrieval from vast documents, with added functionality for metadata filtering and direct search endpoint access.
The Computer Use Tool, introduced via the Operator function, enables AI to directly execute tasks on a computer. This innovation promises to significantly expand the range of tasks that AI can perform in the real world.
Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s Product Lead, stated during the launch event, “2025 will be the year of AI agents. This is the year when ChatGPT and our developer tools will evolve from merely answering questions to actually performing tasks for users in the real world.” This announcement underscores the company’s ambition to bridge the gap between AI technology and practical, everyday applications.
