GUI Agents: A Survey
Dang Nguyen, Jian Chen, Yu Wang, Gang Wu, Namyong Park, Zhengmian Hu, Hanjia Lyu, Junda Wu, Ryan Aponte, Yu Xia, Xintong Li, Jing Shi, Hongjie Chen, Viet Dac Lai, Zhouhang Xie, Sungchul Kim, Ruiyi Zhang, Tong Yu, Mehrab Tanjim, Nesreen K. Ahmed, Puneet Mathur, Seunghyun Yoon, Lina Yao, Branislav Kveton, Jihyung Kil, Thien Huu Nguyen, Trung Bui, Tianyi Zhou, Ryan A. Rossi, Franck Dernoncourt
Correct Metadata for
Abstract
Graphical User Interface (GUI) agents, powered by Large Foundation Models, have emerged as a transformative approach to automating human-computer interaction. These agents autonomously interact with digital systems via GUIs, emulating human actions such as clicking, typing, and navigating visual elements across diverse platforms. Motivated by the growing interest and fundamental importance of GUI agents, we provide a comprehensive survey that categorizes their benchmarks, evaluation metrics, architectures, and training methods. We propose a unified framework that delineates their perception, reasoning, planning, and acting capabilities. Furthermore, we identify important open challenges and discuss key future directions. Finally, this work serves as a basis for practitioners and researchers to gain an intuitive understanding of current progress, techniques, benchmarks, and critical open problems that remain to be addressed.- Anthology ID:
- 2025.findings-acl.1158
- Volume:
- Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025
- Month:
- July
- Year:
- 2025
- Address:
- Vienna, Austria
- Editors:
- Wanxiang Che, Joyce Nabende, Ekaterina Shutova, Mohammad Taher Pilehvar
- Venue:
- Findings
- SIG:
- Publisher:
- Association for Computational Linguistics
- Note:
- Pages:
- 22522–22538
- Language:
- URL:
- https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-acl.1158/
- DOI:
- 10.18653/v1/2025.findings-acl.1158
- Bibkey:
- Cite (ACL):
- Dang Nguyen, Jian Chen, Yu Wang, Gang Wu, Namyong Park, Zhengmian Hu, Hanjia Lyu, Junda Wu, Ryan Aponte, Yu Xia, Xintong Li, Jing Shi, Hongjie Chen, Viet Dac Lai, Zhouhang Xie, Sungchul Kim, Ruiyi Zhang, Tong Yu, Mehrab Tanjim, Nesreen K. Ahmed, Puneet Mathur, Seunghyun Yoon, Lina Yao, Branislav Kveton, Jihyung Kil, Thien Huu Nguyen, Trung Bui, Tianyi Zhou, Ryan A. Rossi, and Franck Dernoncourt. 2025. GUI Agents: A Survey. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025, pages 22522–22538, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.
- Cite (Informal):
- GUI Agents: A Survey (Nguyen et al., Findings 2025)
- Copy Citation:
- PDF:
- https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-acl.1158.pdf
Export citation
@inproceedings{nguyen-etal-2025-gui,
title = "{GUI} Agents: A Survey",
author = "Nguyen, Dang and
Chen, Jian and
Wang, Yu and
Wu, Gang and
Park, Namyong and
Hu, Zhengmian and
Lyu, Hanjia and
Wu, Junda and
Aponte, Ryan and
Xia, Yu and
Li, Xintong and
Shi, Jing and
Chen, Hongjie and
Lai, Viet Dac and
Xie, Zhouhang and
Kim, Sungchul and
Zhang, Ruiyi and
Yu, Tong and
Tanjim, Mehrab and
Ahmed, Nesreen K. and
Mathur, Puneet and
Yoon, Seunghyun and
Yao, Lina and
Kveton, Branislav and
Kil, Jihyung and
Nguyen, Thien Huu and
Bui, Trung and
Zhou, Tianyi and
Rossi, Ryan A. and
Dernoncourt, Franck",
editor = "Che, Wanxiang and
Nabende, Joyce and
Shutova, Ekaterina and
Pilehvar, Mohammad Taher",
booktitle = "Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025",
month = jul,
year = "2025",
address = "Vienna, Austria",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-acl.1158/",
doi = "10.18653/v1/2025.findings-acl.1158",
pages = "22522--22538",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-256-5",
abstract = "Graphical User Interface (GUI) agents, powered by Large Foundation Models, have emerged as a transformative approach to automating human-computer interaction. These agents autonomously interact with digital systems via GUIs, emulating human actions such as clicking, typing, and navigating visual elements across diverse platforms. Motivated by the growing interest and fundamental importance of GUI agents, we provide a comprehensive survey that categorizes their benchmarks, evaluation metrics, architectures, and training methods. We propose a unified framework that delineates their perception, reasoning, planning, and acting capabilities. Furthermore, we identify important open challenges and discuss key future directions. Finally, this work serves as a basis for practitioners and researchers to gain an intuitive understanding of current progress, techniques, benchmarks, and critical open problems that remain to be addressed."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="nguyen-etal-2025-gui">
<titleInfo>
<title>GUI Agents: A Survey</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Dang</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Nguyen</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jian</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Chen</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yu</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Wang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Gang</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Wu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Namyong</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Park</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Zhengmian</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Hu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Hanjia</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Lyu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Junda</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Wu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ryan</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Aponte</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yu</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Xia</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Xintong</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Li</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jing</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Shi</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Hongjie</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Chen</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Viet</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Dac</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Lai</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Zhouhang</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Xie</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Sungchul</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Kim</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ruiyi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Tong</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Mehrab</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Tanjim</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Nesreen</namePart>
<namePart type="given">K</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ahmed</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Puneet</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Mathur</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Seunghyun</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yoon</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Lina</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yao</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Branislav</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Kveton</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jihyung</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Kil</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Thien</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Huu</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Nguyen</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Trung</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Bui</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Tianyi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhou</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ryan</namePart>
<namePart type="given">A</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Rossi</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Franck</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Dernoncourt</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2025-07</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Wanxiang</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Che</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Joyce</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Nabende</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ekaterina</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Shutova</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Mohammad</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Taher</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Pilehvar</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>Association for Computational Linguistics</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Vienna, Austria</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
<identifier type="isbn">979-8-89176-256-5</identifier>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>Graphical User Interface (GUI) agents, powered by Large Foundation Models, have emerged as a transformative approach to automating human-computer interaction. These agents autonomously interact with digital systems via GUIs, emulating human actions such as clicking, typing, and navigating visual elements across diverse platforms. Motivated by the growing interest and fundamental importance of GUI agents, we provide a comprehensive survey that categorizes their benchmarks, evaluation metrics, architectures, and training methods. We propose a unified framework that delineates their perception, reasoning, planning, and acting capabilities. Furthermore, we identify important open challenges and discuss key future directions. Finally, this work serves as a basis for practitioners and researchers to gain an intuitive understanding of current progress, techniques, benchmarks, and critical open problems that remain to be addressed.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">nguyen-etal-2025-gui</identifier>
<identifier type="doi">10.18653/v1/2025.findings-acl.1158</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-acl.1158/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2025-07</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>22522</start>
<end>22538</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings %T GUI Agents: A Survey %A Nguyen, Dang %A Chen, Jian %A Wang, Yu %A Wu, Gang %A Park, Namyong %A Hu, Zhengmian %A Lyu, Hanjia %A Wu, Junda %A Aponte, Ryan %A Xia, Yu %A Li, Xintong %A Shi, Jing %A Chen, Hongjie %A Lai, Viet Dac %A Xie, Zhouhang %A Kim, Sungchul %A Zhang, Ruiyi %A Yu, Tong %A Tanjim, Mehrab %A Ahmed, Nesreen K. %A Mathur, Puneet %A Yoon, Seunghyun %A Yao, Lina %A Kveton, Branislav %A Kil, Jihyung %A Nguyen, Thien Huu %A Bui, Trung %A Zhou, Tianyi %A Rossi, Ryan A. %A Dernoncourt, Franck %Y Che, Wanxiang %Y Nabende, Joyce %Y Shutova, Ekaterina %Y Pilehvar, Mohammad Taher %S Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025 %D 2025 %8 July %I Association for Computational Linguistics %C Vienna, Austria %@ 979-8-89176-256-5 %F nguyen-etal-2025-gui %X Graphical User Interface (GUI) agents, powered by Large Foundation Models, have emerged as a transformative approach to automating human-computer interaction. These agents autonomously interact with digital systems via GUIs, emulating human actions such as clicking, typing, and navigating visual elements across diverse platforms. Motivated by the growing interest and fundamental importance of GUI agents, we provide a comprehensive survey that categorizes their benchmarks, evaluation metrics, architectures, and training methods. We propose a unified framework that delineates their perception, reasoning, planning, and acting capabilities. Furthermore, we identify important open challenges and discuss key future directions. Finally, this work serves as a basis for practitioners and researchers to gain an intuitive understanding of current progress, techniques, benchmarks, and critical open problems that remain to be addressed. %R 10.18653/v1/2025.findings-acl.1158 %U https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-acl.1158/ %U https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2025.findings-acl.1158 %P 22522-22538
Markdown (Informal)
[GUI Agents: A Survey](https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-acl.1158/) (Nguyen et al., Findings 2025)
- GUI Agents: A Survey (Nguyen et al., Findings 2025)
ACL
- Dang Nguyen, Jian Chen, Yu Wang, Gang Wu, Namyong Park, Zhengmian Hu, Hanjia Lyu, Junda Wu, Ryan Aponte, Yu Xia, Xintong Li, Jing Shi, Hongjie Chen, Viet Dac Lai, Zhouhang Xie, Sungchul Kim, Ruiyi Zhang, Tong Yu, Mehrab Tanjim, Nesreen K. Ahmed, Puneet Mathur, Seunghyun Yoon, Lina Yao, Branislav Kveton, Jihyung Kil, Thien Huu Nguyen, Trung Bui, Tianyi Zhou, Ryan A. Rossi, and Franck Dernoncourt. 2025. GUI Agents: A Survey. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025, pages 22522–22538, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.