ChatGPT's Free Plan Can Schedule Your Morning News and Draft Your Social Posts, Pictures Included, but You Press Schedule

This is part 6 of the series "Running a Small Business with AI Employees, and Keeping the Cost Down." At the end of the series, I plan to give away the Paperclip settings, instructions and setups I use, for free.

Series contents

1. I connected ChatGPT dots to Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Notion
2. What "AI companies" really are
3. Which AI agent tool does what
4. The top 15 jobs people hand to AI
5. Free vs. paid AI, and how to pick a plan
6. ChatGPT: morning news and social posts (this article)
7. Claude: a morning briefing and bookkeeping drafts (coming soon)
8. Gemini: email reply drafts and meeting notes (coming soon)
9. Claude Code for non-developers (coming soon)
10. Add research only if you need it: Perplexity and Grok (coming soon)
11. Get told only when something changes, and ask your computer from a chat app (OpenClaw) (coming soon)
12. A customer desk where AI drafts and you approve (coming soon)
13. What one reply costs through an AI-worker system, and how to bring it down (coming soon)
14. Start on a subscription, keep a pay-per-use switch ready (coming soon)
15. Setting it up for a company with several people (coming soon)
16. The org chart of a small company run with AI employees (coming soon)

ChatGPT's free plan can run your news on a schedule every morning. On a free test account, I asked for the news "every morning", ChatGPT set up a daily scheduled task, and the next morning the news arrived by email, even though the pricing page shows a dash for scheduled tasks on Free. Free runs it once a day; later in this series, from part 12, I show a way to run jobs as often as you like, still for free, by building an AI company with Paperclip.

This is part 6 of the series. Part 5 put "a shop running news and social posts" on ChatGPT Go ($8) or Plus ($20), plus Meta Business Suite, which is free. This part sets that up from zero, with a made-up shop called Sample Bakery and a test Facebook page, and it turns out the free plan covers it.

The news is running it unattended. The social post is asking AI, and then you press Schedule yourself. (Both terms are in "Terms" at the end.)

The short answers

• The free plan can schedule the morning news. You ask once in a chat, and ChatGPT gathers and sends it on its own every day. Free runs it once a day, at a window such as "Morning" rather than 7:00. The pricing page says Free has no scheduled tasks; the help page and my free test account say it does. One daily news task costs $0.
• A paid plan runs it at an exact time. On Pro I could pick 7:00 a.m., and both results came within two minutes of it.
• "Done" does not mean every link works. In the second result, 1 of 5 source links did not open, and no phone notification or email came for the Pro task even with notifications on in Settings. Check the arrival time and the links for the first week.
• The social post is asking AI, then you. ChatGPT writes the text and makes the picture, and the free plan can do both. Pictures on Free have a cap; when you reach it, you wait or move to a paid plan. A person schedules the post in Meta Business Suite, which is free. The scheduled post showed "AI content".

1. Set it up from zero

Which plan

In US dollars: Free $0, Go $8, Plus $20, and Pro at $100, $200 or $500 a month. Go "may include ads". On the pricing page's comparison table, scheduled tasks show a dash for Free and a check mark for Go, Plus and Pro.

How many tasks you can keep running, from OpenAI's help page: 3 on Free and Go, 5 on Plus, 15 on Pro.

Stop ChatGPT using your business notes to improve itself

On every plan, what you type can be used to improve ChatGPT unless you turn it off. The pricing page lists "Opt-out available" for every plan.

Where: your account menu → Settings → Data controls → Improve the model for everyone → off. On the phone: the sidebar → your profile icon → Data controls. It applies to your whole account, on every device, and your chats still stay in your history.

Try the news request once by hand (asking AI)

OpenAI suggests trying the request in a regular chat before you schedule it. Here is the request. Replace the parts in brackets with your own:

Every day at [7:00 a.m.], find up to 5 news items about
[your trade, for example: small bakeries and the bakery business] and [AI tools for small businesses].
Look for news mainly from [your country].

For each item:
1. Headline
2. Date published
3. What happened, in two lines
4. Why it matters to [a small bakery], in one line
5. Source name and link

Rules:
- Only items published in the last 48 hours. If you cannot find the date, leave the item out.
- Do not include any item you already sent me in this chat.
- If there is nothing new, write "Nothing new today" instead of filling the list.
- If you could not search the web, say so in the first line. Do not fill the list from memory.
- Just send me the list. Do not sign up for anything, subscribe to anything or contact anyone.

For the first try, delete the first line ("Every day at …") and send the rest.

Web search works on every plan. ChatGPT may use the rough location of your internet connection to pick local news, which is why the request names your country. I shot from Japan and wrote "mainly from the US, the UK, Canada and Australia".

On Pro, 5 items came back, each with a link to its source. Pointing at a link shows the outlet, the headline and the date.

The "Nothing new today" rule does real work. When I tried the same request in Japanese, asking for Japanese news, ChatGPT searched 10 sites and answered with one line, the Japanese for "There is no new news today", instead of filling the list with older items.

One more thing: my first try came back in Japanese because my custom instructions said to answer in Japanese. If you set a language there, the news follows it.

Make it a scheduled task (running it unattended from here)

In the same chat, I sent:

This is what I want. Make it a scheduled task: run it every day at 7:00 a.m. Tokyo time, with the same rules.

ChatGPT answered "Scheduled successfully": every day at 7:00 a.m. Tokyo time, up to 5 verified news items per report. You can also create a task from Scheduled in the sidebar.

Check the time on the task panel: click the task name in the chat → Edit. On Pro, the time was "7:00 AM Japan Time", and the list let me choose in 15-minute steps. On Free there are no exact times, only windows such as Morning; on my free account, asking for "every morning" was enough to make the task (section 4). Under Advanced, every run goes into the same chat.

The instructions on the panel were not my words. ChatGPT had rewritten the request, and all the rules were still there.

Does the computer need to stay on? The one case OpenAI states clearly is a scheduled task in the ChatGPT desktop app that uses files on your computer: then the computer must be on and the app running. A page about its Work tools says tasks that research the web suit running in the cloud, "because your computer doesn't need to be awake."

Check the next morning that a notification arrives

Your account setting: Settings → Notifications → Tasks → Push, Email, or Push, Email. On my account it was Push only, and I changed it to Push, Email.

That was not enough. On the first morning, no phone notification came and no email came for the Pro task. There are two likely reasons. In the task's data, notifications for that task were off. And OpenAI says phone notifications need the task to be created in a phone app; I had created it on the web. The free test account's task did send an email.

So after you create a task, wait one morning and see whether anything reaches you. Even if nothing does, the result is in the chat the task came from.

Where to find it, and how to stop it

Scheduled in the sidebar lists your tasks. You can also get there from Settings → Notifications → Manage tasks, or from the ••• menu in the chat → See scheduled tasks. From the list you can pause, resume, edit or delete a task. Deleting a task does not delete its chat.

Do not delete or archive the chat the task came from. Deleting the chat pauses the task, and archiving it may pause it too.

2. What arrived on two mornings

The first result appeared right under "Scheduled successfully", with no time marker, so the chat alone did not tell me when it arrived. The second showed "Today 6:59 AM" and the task name above the list.

The items were real business news: a bakery closing after 50 years, a bakery buying another, an AI training program for small business owners. All came from English-language outlets.

The link that did not open was on the bakery closing. It pointed to a site that republished a newspaper's story, and the browser said "This site can't be reached". The item read fine. The link was the problem.

What you still do: open the link before you act on any item.

3. "Completed" is not "correct": late, stopped, broken

Late. On my two mornings: 2 minutes late, then 1 minute early. Write down the set time and the arrival time for the first week.

Stopped. A task that is not used may pause on its own. It may also pause when it needs something from you or when its chat is archived, and it does pause when its chat is deleted.

Broken or wrong. OpenAI says to treat web results as untrusted. On my second morning, one link of five did not open.

First-week checklist

• Arrival time against the set time
• Did a notification or email reach you?
• Open every link before you act on an item
• Anything older than 48 hours?
• The chat is still there (not deleted or archived)

4. Can you do this on the free plan?

The help page says that on Free, a task can run once or repeat at most once a day, in a time window such as morning, afternoon or night, and you can keep up to 3 active tasks. The pricing page shows a dash for Free. Hourly runs and exact times need "an eligible paid plan", and OpenAI does not say which plans count.

On my free test account:

• Scheduled was in the sidebar.
• When I asked for the news "every morning", ChatGPT made the task: daily, "approximately 8:00 AM Japan time". The Scheduled list said "Daily · Next run in 20 hours".
• On the task's Edit screen, the time choices were only Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night. Repeat offered Daily, Weekdays, Weekly and Monthly.
• The next morning, the email arrived at 8:52. It showed the start of the first item, a bakery closing, and a View message button.

The help page itself says availability depends on your account, app and app version. If you are on Free, ask for one daily task and see whether it offers a schedule.

The social post works on Free too. OpenAI's Free FAQ says everyday text chats are unlimited, "subject to abuse-prevention safeguards", while image generation and file uploads have separate usage limits; ChatGPT tells you when you reach one, and you wait. Pictures on Free are "Limited" on the pricing table, and OpenAI publishes no number. One picture per post fits, even if you sometimes have to wait.

5. Social posts: text and picture from ChatGPT, scheduled in Meta Business Suite

This is asking AI, then you. I used the test page "Sample Bakery Test". The subject: the shop's Christmas cake pre-orders. The ChatGPT screens in this section are from Pro; on Free you send the same requests, with the cap on pictures from section 4.

The text

Attach your shop guide (opening hours, days off, prices) every time, and ask:

I run [shop name], a [small bakery]. Our shop guide is attached.

Write a post for our Facebook Page from the note below: 2 short paragraphs.

Rules:
- Use only the facts in the note and the shop guide. Do not add claims that are not there.
- If you give prices, use only the prices in the shop guide.
- At most one emoji.
- Do not say the picture is a photo of our shop or our food.
- Do not post or schedule anything. I will schedule the post myself.

Note: [your rough note]

My note was rough: "xmas cakes. preorder nov 1 to dec 15 or until 60. strawberry and chocolate. pay when you order. pickup 23-25 only. last year sold out dec 10! waiting list this year."

What came back kept all 6 facts in the note: the order dates, the limit of 60, the two kinds, paying when you order, pick-up on the 23rd to 25th only, and the waiting list. It was 2 paragraphs with one emoji (🎄), and it did not call anything a photo. It added two things that were not in the note, "chocolate gâteau" and the ways to order (phone, email, chat, or in the shop), and both are in the shop guide. It had read the attachment.

The picture

Ask for it separately:

Now make one square picture to go with the post: [what to show], an illustration, not a photo.
No people, no words, no prices, no logos.

I asked for a strawberry shortcake and a chocolate cake on a plain wooden table. The picture came back square, 1254 × 1254 pixels, with no people and no words. I had asked for an illustration; what came back looked close to a photo.

OpenAI's terms say you own what ChatGPT makes, but similar output may be made for someone else. The terms also forbid presenting AI output as made by a person, so do not call it a photo, and for a real product, a real photo is the safer choice.

Schedule it in Meta Business Suite

Meta Business Suite is free on desktop and in its phone app. It needs a business portfolio: Meta's name for the place where your page, your Instagram account and the people who manage them are kept together. One person can make up to 2.

On the screen: Create post → Post to: your page → add the picture under Media → paste the text → under Schedule, turn on Set date and time → pick the date and time → check Share to → Schedule. A person presses Schedule. You can schedule from 20 minutes to 29 days ahead, and the time is your current time zone, so check it if you are travelling.

The post then waits in Planner (a calendar) and on the Scheduled tab of your posts. When I opened the scheduled post, its preview said "AI content" next to the time. Meta adds this label when it finds signs in the file that AI made it; you can add the label yourself, and in some cases must.

To stop a scheduled post: on the post's ••• menu → Manage post → Move to Drafts, and confirm "Cancel scheduled publish date?" with Move to Drafts. Then, on the Drafts tab, Manage post → Delete post removes it. After that, Planner and the Drafts tab were empty.

To post to Instagram at the same time, the page and the Instagram account must be connected and in the same business portfolio.

Why you press Schedule, not the AI

I did not find a way in OpenAI's documentation for ChatGPT to post straight to Facebook or Instagram. Some scheduling services let an AI put posts straight into the queue: Buffer's help page says ChatGPT can be connected to create drafts and scheduled posts. Then whatever the AI writes goes out as it is.

Start with drafts and press Schedule yourself, keep your original note so you can check facts, and know where Move to Drafts is. For X, part 5 quoted X's own rule on automated posting.

6. What Free covers, and when to pay

Back to the table in part 5: "A shop running news and social posts: ChatGPT Go $8 to Plus $20 plus Meta Business Suite $0." Part 5 picked Go or Plus. This part's work fits on ChatGPT's free plan.

• Free covers: one daily news task in a window such as Morning, delivered by email (running it unattended; tested on my free account), the post text and picture (asking AI; pictures have a cap), and scheduling for $0 in Meta Business Suite (a person presses Schedule).
• Pay when you want: an exact time such as 7:00; ChatGPT's own tasks more than once a day (paid plans go up to hourly; part 12 shows a way to run jobs as often as you like for free); more pictures than the cap; or more than 3 active tasks.
• I shot on Pro and a free account, not on Go or Plus, so the screens do not show Go's or Plus's limits. What OpenAI lists: active tasks 3 / 5 / 15 (Go / Plus / Pro), and pictures "more" on Go, "more complex and accurate" on Plus, "unlimited and faster" on Pro.
• Not covered here: a morning briefing from your calendar and email, and bookkeeping drafts (part 7, Claude); answering customers on WhatsApp or Messenger (part 12).

Next is part 7: Claude, a morning briefing and bookkeeping drafts. If there is a job you want me to cover, tell me in the comments.

The rest is extra detail for those who want it.

Aside: the same news task through Paperclip

In part 3 I showed Paperclip, which keeps a team of AI workers with tasks and approvals and can repeat a job at a set time (it calls this a routine). Running jobs more than once a day that way starts in part 12, as the opening says. For one daily job like this, ChatGPT's scheduled tasks are enough. How much of your plan's monthly allowance each way uses is what part 13 measures, with exactly this request. Signing in to ChatGPT from other software such as Paperclip is not clearly forbidden today, but it may need care later; part 14 covers that.

Aside: the feature from part 1

In part 1, a different ChatGPT feature that also runs a job at a set time (OpenAI calls it dots; for individuals it needs the Pro plan) was set for 8:30 and arrived at 8:44, starting "Sorry for the delay". On the page for that feature, OpenAI says a completed run does not by itself confirm the result was achieved or delivered.

Aside: sharing a task

You can share a scheduled task by link so someone makes their own copy. Your name, history and results are not shared, but anyone with the link can read the full request. Do not put customer names in it.

Terms

This series uses the same two terms as parts 4 and 5.

• Asking AI: you ask each time, and the answer comes back while you wait.
• Running it unattended: it starts on its own at a set time, and the result is waiting for you.

Sources

• Scheduled tasks in ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10291617-scheduled-tasks-in-chatgpt
• ChatGPT pricing: https://chatgpt.com/pricing/ and https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing
• ChatGPT Free Tier FAQ: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9275245-using-chatgpt-s-free-plan
• Get started with Work: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/get-started-with-work
• Scheduled tasks in the desktop app: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/automations
• Tasks and memory (dots): https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/tasks-and-memory
• Data controls in ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7730893-data-controls-in-chatgpt
• ChatGPT search: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-chatgpt-search
• Terms of use: https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/
• Meta Business Suite: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/205614130852988 and https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1252240869631062
• Connecting Instagram in Meta Business Suite: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/914097058035853
• Meta AI labels: https://www.meta.com/help/artificial-intelligence/1783222608822690/
• Buffer: https://support.buffer.com/en-us/articles/connecting-buffer-to-automation-tools-and-ai-assistants-MMoXpjDEEo

In this series, I show how a sole proprietor or a small company can split everyday work among AI workers ("AI employees") while people only check and approve. We start within ordinary subscriptions and estimate the cost with simple formulas. Coordinating AI workers with approvals in a tool like Paperclip costs more than using the AI directly, so I also show how to bring that cost close to the direct price. At the end of the series, I plan to give away the Paperclip settings, instructions and setups I use, for free. If you are interested, please like and follow.

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