- OpenAI introduced new features for the ChatGPT macOS app.
- Advanced voice mode allows users to interact with ChatGPT using voice commands.
- ChatGPT’s “Work with Applications” feature allows you to interact directly with coding and note-taking applications.
For day 11 of the 12 days of OpenAI, the company moved from the landline to your computer, specifically macOS. OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil demonstrated how Mac owners using the ChatGPT desktop app will see it floating on their screen as a friendly digital companion.
You don’t even need to type requests, thanks to the inclusion of Advanced Speech Mode in the desktop app now. You can simply speak out loud and ChatGPT will fulfill your requests even when you are doing other things. Instead of switching between tabs or opening a browser, you can call ChatGPT when needed to compose an email, exchange ideas, or fix some code.
Speaking of coding, the new “Work with Applications” feature makes ChatGPT run many applications on your computer, especially for coding. You can give it access to the applications on your Mac and it will take a look inside, understand what’s going on, and give you a hand.
Let’s say you’re using a code editor like Warp and you’re looking at a long, confusing list of code. Instead of endlessly scrolling, you can ask ChatGPT to analyze what’s on the screen and it will offer suggestions, explanations, or even write new code snippets. OpenAI showed how to ask ChatGPT to write code directly in Xcode, Apple’s app development tool.
Notes for the holidays
The applications ChatGPT works with are also not limited to encoding services. The AI assistant will type in English and programming languages directly in apps like Apple Notes, Quip, and Notion. If you’re planning a trip and using Notion to jot down ideas, you can ask ChatGPT to help you develop them, even citing Internet sources.
If you are a Mac user, all the new features are available. For Windows users, an update to the existing app will be coming soon, although OpenAI has not given a specific timeframe.
These aren’t the dramatic announcements of some of the previous days, but they show OpenAI’s vision for ChatGPT to extend beyond the chat window. AI could become a much more active collaborator, able to combine the powers of multiple applications in one convenient package. This is what OpenAI calls the “agentic” approach to AI, where ChatGPT performs tasks on your behalf, taking some of the workload off of you.
One day left, let’s see if OpenAI can close with as much excitement as it started. It has to be better than the last verse of the song. No one wants to take home 12 drummers playing drums, but a new AI model could be a nice stocking stuffer.
