Hugging Face releases a free web-based agentic AI tool
A team at Hugging Face has unveiled a new web-based AI experiment known as the Open Computer Agent — a freely accessible, cloud-hosted system designed to control a virtual computer in real-time. While still in its early stages, this agent reflects the growing potential of open-source AI tools to mimic human interaction with software applications.
The Open Computer Agent operates inside a Linux virtual machine preloaded with standard applications like Firefox, enabling it to perform tasks that require a graphical interface. Users can prompt it with commands such as “Use Google Maps to find the Hugging Face HQ in Paris,” and the agent will attempt to carry out the steps needed — from launching the browser to navigating the site and entering search queries.
We're launching Computer Use in smolagents! 🥳
— m_ric (@AymericRoucher) May 6, 2025
-> As vision models become more capable, they become able to power complex agentic workflows. Especially Qwen-VL models, that support built-in grounding, i.e. ability to locate any element in an image by its coordinates, thus to… pic.twitter.com/mI8MuWZkIS
Though promising, the agent has clear limitations. It handles straightforward tasks well but struggles with more complex workflows like booking flights or solving CAPTCHA challenges. Performance can also be slow, with users sometimes waiting in a virtual queue ranging from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on demand.
Yet, the primary aim of the project isn’t to compete with polished commercial tools. Instead, Hugging Face hopes to demonstrate how rapidly open-source AI systems are improving — and how affordably they can now run on cloud infrastructure. “As vision models become more capable, they become able to power complex agentic workflows,” explained Aymeric Roucher of Hugging Face’s agents team. He noted that some models now support “built-in grounding,” allowing them to locate and interact with specific elements on a virtual screen by identifying their coordinates.
This kind of agentic AI — software that autonomously performs actions across digital environments — is becoming a focal point in enterprise AI adoption. A KPMG survey reports that 65% of businesses are already testing AI agents, and industry forecasts suggest explosive growth: Markets and Markets projects the sector will balloon from $7.84 billion in 2025 to $52.62 billion by 2030.
In short, Hugging Face’s Open Computer Agent is a modest but important step toward a future where general-purpose AI systems can handle digital tasks with minimal human oversight. While there’s work to be done, the path forward is increasingly visible — and increasingly open.
