OpenAI competes with Copilot by launching desktop interfaces for ChatGPT.
OpenAI's desktop app versions of ChatGPT aim to integrate seamlessly into daily activities, with recent updates encouraging users to rely more on ChatGPT apps for tasks.
ChatGPT users on Mac OS can now start third-party apps straight from the app. ChatGPT Plus and Teams subscribers may now access this feature; Enterprise and Edu users will soon be able to do the same. Similar to GitHub Copilot's October connection with coding platforms, these users can access VS Code, Xcode, Terminal, and iTerm2 via a dropdown menu.
Users frequently copy and paste text or code created by ChatGPT into other programs, according to Alexander Embiricos, product lead for the ChatGPT desktop team and former CEO of Multi, a screen-sharing and collaboration firm that OpenAI purchased in June. Since many of our clients are developers who regularly move text-based content from ChatGPT to other platforms, we made the decision to integrate with IDEs, Embiricos said.
In order to ensure that third-party apps only launch manually, he underlined that privacy was a crucial factor in these integrations. With ChatGPT, users can begin coding by choosing Visual Studio Code, which will launch with the code they were working on.
Theoretically, ChatGPT on a Mac can run many third-party programs. This feature is now only available on Mac OS, but PC users will ultimately be able to utilize it as well. In the future, OpenAI intends to introduce more apps.
Windows PCs are not abandoned.
Following a restricted release to subscribers, the ChatGPT desktop client for Windows PC is now accessible to all users. OpenAI updated the PC software with snapshot capabilities and Advanced Voice Mode to improve the user experience.
Embiricos pointed out that the team decided to give Advanced Voice Mode for the PC app high priority because consumers had been requesting it for a long time on desktop. By utilizing certain features of Windows computers, the new screenshot capability lets users choose which windows to take a picture of.
“While ChatGPT can understand descriptions, adding a photo enriches its responses. We see many users copy-pasting photos into ChatGPT, so the screenshot option simplifies this process,” Embiricos said.