Box Announces Support for New OpenAI Agents SDK to Make Enterprise Content Smarter
At Box, we believe that AI agents will bring a fundamental shift to the way that enterprises work. Today, OpenAI introduced the new Agents SDK and a new set of tools for their API platform, to provide developers with the building blocks that they need to efficiently create intelligent, reliable agents that can independently accomplish complex tasks. For enterprises, the new OpenAI Agents SDK will be most powerful when they are leveraged not only for reasoning from within the models or the broader internet, but also when these can be combined with external systems and proprietary data sources, like their unstructured data stored in Box. This is why Box created a new Box AI agent, powered by the OpenAI SDK. It is available for developers to integrate into their organization’s broader agentic workflows and enterprise applications.
A common challenge with building AI agents today is that they need to access both public information and an organization’s proprietary information in a safe and secure way. Now, with OpenAI's tools, including web search and file search, combined with Box AI's capabilities, we are making it simpler to build intelligent agents that can handle complex tasks by seamlessly connecting your organization's private content with relevant external information. Customers can leverage our sample code to develop their own Box AI agent with the OpenAI platform or incorporate this functionality as part of a more complex agent they are developing. Customers can deploy the Box AI agent themselves with the OpenAI platform or incorporate the Box AI agent as part of a more complex agent they are developing.
In the future, AI systems will communicate directly with each other through their agents, making work even more efficient. Imagine agents from all of your software applications talking to a Box AI agent to grab the right documents for a customer or to coordinate a series of tasks, all behind the scenes. The Box AI agent for the OpenAI Agents SDK is a step towards this idea of orchestrating multi-agent workflows and enabling connected intelligence across the enterprise.
For example, a financial services firm can build a custom agent that calls on a Box AI agent to integrate their internal market analysis stored in Box with real-time news and economic data from the web, providing their analysts with a comprehensive view for investment decisions.
Here’s what this means for enterprise developers:
Easily build smart agents: OpenAI's new Agents SDK gives developers a way to build agents right on their platform. Box has created a sample code for a specific Box AI agent – think of it as a set of tools – that lets these OpenAI agents easily access and understand the content in your Box account. This means you can build agents that are naturally aware of your company's secure files.
Give agents superpowers with OpenAI's Responses API: OpenAI's improved Responses API equips agents with handy built-in abilities like searching the web, computer use, and finding the right information from within your own files. This helps agents stay up-to-date with the latest online information and work more effectively with internal data.
Securely connect agents to your Box content: The Box AI agent for the OpenAI Agents SDK acts as a safe and secure bridge, allowing OpenAI agents to use key Box features like searching, querying, and pulling data from your files — all while respecting all your existing security settings and permissions in Box.
Let agents talk to agents: Agent to agent interaction – when different software agents can communicate and work together seamlessly – is the real game-changer. The Box AI agent for the OpenAI Agents SDK is built with this in mind, so it could be used to interact with other specialized agents to automate even more complex workflows.
A flexible toolkit for your AI needs: The code for the Box agent is being made available as a kind of building block, so Box customers can easily add it to their own custom OpenAI agents. This makes it easier to create more complex workflows that combine information from Box with data from other systems like Salesforce.
Delivering smarter ways to work
With Box and the OpenAI Agents SDK, developers can connect internal knowledge with a set of agentic capabilities and external insights. By integrating these systems, organizations can respond more dynamically to changing conditions while maintaining alignment with internal knowledge and historical data, ultimately driving better outcomes across all business functions.
Legal: Legal teams can build agents to access contracts and documents stored in Box while simultaneously researching relevant external case law and regulatory updates. This combination allows attorneys to quickly identify how recent legal developments might impact existing agreements and internal policies.
Customer Support: Support teams can deploy agents that quickly retrieve information from internal FAQs, product specifications, and past customer interactions. These agents can also monitor external forums and social media for trending issues, providing representatives with comprehensive context to resolve customer inquiries more effectively.
Sales: Sales professionals can utilize agents to access customer relationship histories and performance reports while gathering competitive intelligence on pricing and market trends. This dual-source approach enables teams to develop more strategic proposals based on both internal customer data and the broader competitive landscape.
Marketing: Marketing teams can leverage agents that analyze past campaign results and customer segmentation data while identifying current consumer trends and competitor activities. This integration helps marketers develop more relevant campaigns that respond to market dynamics while building on historical performance insights.
R&D: Researchers can employ agents to access internal experimental findings and research data while exploring published papers and patents. This capability allows R&D teams to compare proprietary results against the scientific community's work, identifying unique opportunities and avoiding redundant efforts.
HR: HR teams can implement agents that provide guidance based on company policies and training materials while researching industry standards and labor law updates. This ensures that employee support remains consistent with internal guidelines while incorporating external best practices and compliance requirements.
Start developing today
Get started coding today by using the Box SDK in Github.