August 8, 2025

Computer Tasking Agent (CTA)

Give it a task — CTA takes over your computer and gets things done. Autonomously. Intelligently. With precision.

Today, we are announcing the research preview of the Computer Tasking Agent (CTA)—an autonomous agent engineered to perform tasks directly on your computer. CTA leverages SVECTOR’s advanced vision models alongside chain-of-thought reasoning and planning, enabling it to perceive your screen, understand context, and interact with graphical user interfaces (GUIs) as a human would. By operating through the universal interface of screen, mouse, and keyboard—without dependence on app-specific APIs—CTA delivers flexible, intelligent automation across any application or workflow.

CTA (Computer Tasking Agent) is the result of extensive research in autonomous system control and intelligent automation. Unlike traditional automation tools, CTA operates directly at the system level, perceiving your screen and interacting with your computer just like a human. By combining advanced vision models with chain-of-thought reasoning, CTA can understand complex tasks, break them down into actionable steps, and dynamically adapt to changing environments. This breakthrough enables CTA to automate virtually any workflow or application—without relying on app-specific APIs—ushering in a new era of flexible, intelligent computer use for everyone.

CTA is available to SVECTOR Pro users, with early access applications open for users in India. If you’re interested in trying CTA, apply for early access and join the research preview as we continue to refine safety and capabilities through real-world feedback.

How it works

Natural Language Command Processing

CTA begins with your prompt. Whether it's "Search for nearby coffee shops" or "Open Xcode and build the to-do app project", CTA uses a natural language processing pipeline to understand your intent. It breaks down your instruction into actionable steps, forming a high-level plan for execution. This plan is then passed to the execution layer for dynamic task realization.

Visual Perception & System Awareness

The Computer Tasking Agent (CTA) runs directly at your system's core layer, capturing screen-level data to understand what's happening in real time. It uses vision only when needed, building a visual context from screenshots to identify UI elements, text, buttons, and forms — all without relying on app-specific APIs or accessibility layers.

Reasoning with Chain-of-Thought

After seeing the screen, CTA thinks before acting. Using a chain-of-thought reasoning process, it evaluates the current screen state, the history of previous actions, and the remaining task goals. This iterative thought loop allows it to plan next steps, handle multi-stage flows, recover from unexpected changes, and dynamically adjust when something goes off-plan.

Action via Planning

Once CTA knows what to do, it acts like a real user: moving the mouse, clicking, scrolling, typing, and navigating across apps. These low-level actions are guided entirely by its perception and reasoning layers — enabling it to automate virtually anything on your computer, from filling out forms to operating full software suites.

Human-in-the-Loop Safety

While CTA can operate fully autonomously, safety remains a priority. For sensitive actions such as entering passwords, making purchases, or responding to CAPTCHA challenges, CTA will pause and request user confirmation. This ensures both trust and control in high-risk or privacy-sensitive operations.

Evaluations

CTA establishes a new state-of-the-art in both computer use and browser use benchmarks by using the same universal interface of screen, mouse, and keyboard.

Benchmark type	Benchmark	Computer use (universal interface)		Web browsing agents	Human
		SVECTOR CTA	Previous SOTA	Previous SOTA
Computer use	OSWorld	45.1%	40.1%	-	70.4%
Browser use	WebArena	53.8%	35.8%	52.2%	73.6%
Browser use	WebVoyager	92.2%	88.1%	87.0%	-

Note: Benchmark results are obtained in controlled environments and have been evaluated internally. No external entities were involved in the assessment process.

Safety & Security

As an agentic system with direct, system-level access to your entire computer — including applications, files, system settings, and network connections — the Computer Tasking Agent (CTA) introduces unprecedented safety and security challenges. Unlike traditional AI tools that operate within sandboxed environments or limited interfaces, CTA requires comprehensive protective measures across multiple layers. We've implemented an extensive multi-layered defense strategy that addresses system-wide access risks, data security, misuse prevention, and frontier AI safety concerns.

System-Level Access Controls

CTA operates with direct access to your operating system (currently MacOS), applications, and data. To protect against unauthorized actions and system compromise:

Permission-based Architecture: CTA requests explicit user permission before accessing sensitive system areas, personal files, or making system-wide changes.
Sandboxed Execution: Critical system operations are executed within controlled environments to prevent accidental system damage.
File System Protections: CTA includes safeguards against unauthorized access to sensitive directories, system files, and personal data.
Network Security: All network communications are monitored and filtered to prevent data exfiltration or unauthorized connections.
Application Isolation: When operating within sensitive applications (banking, email, personal documents), CTA operates under enhanced monitoring and requires explicit user approval for any actions.

Data Privacy & Protection

Given CTA's ability to access and interact with your personal data, applications, and files:

Local Processing: Sensitive operations are processed locally when possible to minimize data transmission.
Data Encryption: All data handled by CTA is encrypted both in transit and at rest.
Access Logging: Comprehensive logging of all system interactions for audit and security purposes.
Personal Data Detection: CTA is trained to identify and handle sensitive information (passwords, financial data, personal documents) with extra caution.
User Control: Complete user control over what data CTA can access, with granular permission settings.

Preventing System Misuse

To prevent malicious use of CTA's system-level capabilities, we enforce strict policies:

Task Validation: All user instructions are validated against safety policies before execution.
System Modification Blocks: CTA cannot perform unauthorized system modifications, install malware, or compromise security settings.
Application Restrictions: Blocked from accessing certain high-risk applications or performing actions that could compromise system security.
Real-time Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of CTA's actions with automatic intervention for suspicious behavior.
User Authentication: Enhanced authentication requirements for sensitive system operations.

Human-in-the-Loop Safety

To ensure user trust and control, CTA incorporates human-in-the-loop safety mechanisms:

Confirmation Protocols: CTA requests user confirmation for any action that could have lasting effects on your system or data.
High-Risk Action Blocking: Actions involving financial transactions, system settings changes, or data deletion require explicit approval.
Emergency Stop: Users can immediately halt all CTA operations with a single command or interface action.
Activity Dashboard: Real-time visibility into all CTA actions with the ability to review and control ongoing operations.
Session Recording: Optional session recording for security review and troubleshooting.

Defense Against Advanced Threats

CTA's system access capabilities require protection against sophisticated attack vectors:

Prompt Injection Defense: Advanced filtering to detect and neutralize attempts to manipulate CTA through malicious instructions embedded in documents or websites.
Social Engineering Protection: CTA is trained to recognize and resist social engineering attempts that might try to exploit its system access.
Malicious Code Detection: Built-in scanning capabilities to identify and prevent execution of potentially harmful code or scripts.
Network Threat Monitoring: Real-time analysis of network traffic to detect potential security threats or data breaches.
Behavioral Analysis: AI-powered monitoring of CTA's behavior patterns to detect anomalous activities that might indicate compromise.

Continuous Security Updates

Security in system-level AI agents requires ongoing vigilance and adaptation:

Regular Security Audits: Comprehensive security assessments conducted by internal and external security experts.
Threat Intelligence Integration: Continuous updates to CTA's security systems based on emerging threats and attack patterns.
Community Feedback: Active collaboration with security researchers and the broader community to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.
Incident Response: Established protocols for rapid response to security incidents, including immediate containment and user notification.
Transparency Reporting: Regular public reports on security measures, incidents, and improvements to maintain user trust and community oversight.

Research Preview Safeguards

As CTA represents a significant advancement in AI system capabilities, our research preview includes additional protections:

Limited Deployment: Initial release to a controlled group of users with enhanced monitoring and support.
Enhanced Logging: Comprehensive logging of all interactions for safety analysis and system improvement.
Rapid Response Team: Dedicated team for immediate response to any safety or security concerns.
System Kill Switch: Ability to immediately disable CTA system-wide if critical issues are discovered.
Continuous Learning: Real-world feedback integration to continuously improve safety measures and address emerging challenges.

Conclusion

The Computer Tasking Agent (CTA) introduces a new paradigm in human-computer interaction by leveraging direct system-level integration. Unlike traditional automation tools that rely on specialized APIs or custom configurations, CTA operates through the universal interface of screen perception and native system control. This approach enables seamless adaptation to any application or workflow, addressing the complexity and diversity of real-world digital environments.

As CTA enters its early access phase, our focus remains on refining its capabilities and ensuring robust safety, privacy, and user control. By combining advanced visual perception, autonomous reasoning, and intelligent action execution, CTA sets the foundation for truly autonomous digital agents—unlocking new possibilities for productivity and transforming the future of human-computer interaction.