OpenAI's New Agent: You're Not Behind, You're Exactly Where You Need to Be
This morning I woke up to the sounds of birds, my cat purring, and planes flying overhead (I live in the inner west of Sydney). The sounds of a beautiful Saturday morning! The first email I see is a newsletter spruiking the news that OpenAI launched a multi-task agent. Cue the hype and the mental image of a WWE legend, dance-walking in to declare they’re my new digital assistant — here to take my job and kick my ass.
ChatGPT's new agent can navigate websites, connect to Gmail and GitHub, create presentations, and run code!
Your digital assistant just became your digital replacement!
We've officially graduated from AI that talks to AI that works!
I’ve had a strange and wonderful career, with 10 years of it at Westpac. I had the good fortune of working closely with their marketing team and even earning my MiniMBA in Marketing with Mark Ritson. This course is incredible for marketers, but I’d argue even more so for those not afraid to wade cross-functionally.
It is really easy to read these articles as ‘news’ and treat them as black and white facts. When I do this, I feel an electricity in my body, a gentle wave of anxiety and a sense that I am behind and I am at risk. This may or may not lead to a fear spiral of existential dread and worry for my children’s future. It cuts me to a deeply human core.
What I learned from Ritson is that feeling is Marketing. It is me swimming in the marketing funnel as though on the toilet bowl shaped water slide, swooping me through interest, consideration, decision and prepping me for a plop into ‘Action’ where when I sit up in the kiddie pool exhilarated, cossie more than halfway up my bum, thrown around going ‘how tf did I land here?’
Marketing funnel triggering my anxiety
It is Marketing. Let’s take a dance through the facts.
The Headlines vs Reality
This week's AI headlines are doing what they do best: creating maximum drama with minimum context.
What’s Real (And What’s Marketing)
What's real: OpenAI developed more sophisticated automation capabilities that can perform multi-step tasks across different applications. This is absolutely cool but I know based on the hype, a lot of people thought this was already possible and common.
What's marketing: The idea that this is commercially ready, reliable, or about to replace your finance team next Tuesday.
The reality check: This is experimental technology in controlled-release mode. The gap between ‘works in a demo’ and ‘works reliably in your business-critical finance processes’ is enormous.
Translation: This is impressive progress, not an immediate threat to your job security.
Why Finance Leaders Should Care, But Not Panic
First: The direction is clear. AI capabilities are advancing rapidly, and this type of multi-system integration will eventually become commercially viable.
Second: When it does arrive, and it will, the organisations that are prepared will have a massive advantage over those scrambling to catch up.
Third: ‘Prepared’ doesn't mean having the latest AI tools. It means having the foundational work done that makes AI implementations actually successful.
The Real Question Isn't Will AI Replace Us
Let’s replace that with Will we be ready when AI capabilities mature?
Because here's what the breathless headlines miss: AI agents are only as good as the systems and processes they're working with.
If your data is messy, AI will automate your mess faster and more expensively than ever before.
If your processes aren't documented, AI will consistently do the wrong thing with impressive efficiency.
If your team sees AI as a threat, even the best implementation will fail because people will find ways to work around it.
If your systems don't talk to each other, AI agents will just create more sophisticated workarounds instead of solving the underlying integration problems.
What AI Ready Actually Means
- Clean, standardised data flows between your systems
- Documented, optimised processes that can be systematically improved
- A team that understands how AI can enhance their work rather than replace it
- Technology infrastructure that supports integration rather than fighting it
- Clear business cases for where automation adds value versus where human judgment matters
The Opportunity Hidden in the Hype
While everyone else is either panicking about replacement or rushing to implement the latest shiny AI tool, there's a massive opportunity for thoughtful finance leaders:
You can use this hype cycle to finally get buy-in for the foundational work you've been trying to prioritise for years.
We need to clean up our data architecture before AI agents can help us.
We should document our processes properly so we can identify the best opportunities for automation.
Let's invest in training our team to work alongside intelligent systems and maintain that training.
Your Next Step
Before you book another AI demo or start budgeting for AI agents, ask yourself: Are your fundamentals solid enough to support the AI capabilities that are genuinely coming?
If the answer is no, then let’s reframe the fear. You aren’t behind anything; rather, you are perfectly positioned to get ahead of organisations that skip this crucial preparation work.
Because when multi-tasking AI agents do become commercially viable, reliable, and auditable, the companies that win won't be the ones who implemented first. They'll be the ones who implemented and drove adoption, built on solid foundations.
Ready to focus on AI readiness instead of AI hype? Let's explore what proper preparation looks like for your organisation.
