ChatGPT is now able to access the contents of your apps on macOS. The new feature is designed to make it easier to get the AI’s input on what you’re doing in another app without having to take a screenshot or copy and paste text.
OpenAI announced the ChatGPT Desktop app for macOS in May and has been gradually improving it ever since, including most recently bringing Advanced Voice to the desktop for the first time.
The new feature will initially only work with developer apps such as Apple’s own developer environment Xcode and the Microsoft-backed Visual Studio Code. It will also have access to the Terminal, so all users could soon become power users.
App insight features will only be available for ChatGPT Desktop on the Mac. Anyone with a paid account will be able to get access although it will take a few weeks to come to enterprise and education users.
A spokesperson for OpenAI told Tom’s Guide that while at the moment ChatGPT can only see what you’re doing in the app and make suggestions, the company is exploring ways to make applying those suggestions more seamless.
What is ChatGPT app insights on macOS?
OpenAI stressed this was an ‘early beta’ and the focus was on making it easier for developers to work on projects with ChatGPT. However, the company says there are plans to add more apps soon — so it could integrate with Word or even a game.
In the future this could be expanded to allow ChatGPT to provide live information while you’re in a Zoom meeting, or even give you tips on your gameplay in Civilization 7 — which is coming to Mac on Day One of release.
A spokesperson explained that the main use case was to cut down on copy-pasting between ChatGPT and another app. For developers, they can connect the terminal or developer environment to ChatGPT and it can “then look at the content in that app to give you faster and more context-based answers to your questions.”
This brings ChatGPT closer to providing some of the same functionality developers, and newcomers to programming, are loving from Cursor and similar apps.
In the future this could be expanded to allow ChatGPT to provide live information while you’re in a Zoom meeting, or even give you tips on your gameplay in Civilization 7 — which is coming to Mac on Day One of release.
OpenAI says users will always know what ChatGPT is looking at, it won’t be able to change anything in the app and it’s a feature you’ll have to explicitly enable. The capabilities and just how well it performs at working with apps will improve quickly.
ChatGPT Desktop on Windows is now free
ChatGPT Desktop for Windows is now free for all users. Anyone with a free or paid account will be able to make use of the app in Windows 10 or 11. Previously it was restricted to people paying at least $20 a month for their AI fix.
OpenAI says its windows desktop app lets you “seamlessly integrate ChatGPT into anything you’re doing on your computer.” This includes the Alt + Space shortcut that brings up a mini window and a companion window for quick access.
Windows desktop now includes Advanced Voice, ChatGPT Search and the ability to share screenshots with ChatGPT — something not available in the earlier release.
