ChatGPT's 'Canvas' interface makes it easier to write and code - The innovative new feature by OpenAI
OpenAI has recently introduced a new interface called “Canvas” for ChatGPT, enhancing the user experience by allowing adjustments to text or code generated by the chatbot in a collaborative side-by-side manner. This new feature creates a separate editing window alongside the existing ChatGPT chat box, enabling users to manually modify text or code, highlight specific sections, and receive editing suggestions and feedback from ChatGPT.
According to OpenAI, “Canvas enables ChatGPT to better understand the context of your objectives,” emphasizing the importance of reimagining user interaction with AI to enhance utility and accessibility. This major update to ChatGPT's visual interface marks a significant advancement since its inception two years ago.
Enhanced Editing Experience
ChatGPT Canvas offers users a range of shortcuts for suggesting inline edits, quickly checking grammar and clarity, and adjusting text length and reading level. Additionally, coding-specific shortcuts are available for debugging, adding logs and comments, and code translation into different languages. This functionality is reminiscent of the “Artifacts” feature introduced by AI developer Anthropic for Claude in August.
Prior to the introduction of Canvas, refining the output of the chatbot typically required users to repeatedly input new prompts. The Canvas interface streamlines this process, providing users with greater control and convenience. Notably, it includes a back button for restoring previous work versions. OpenAI also mentions optimizing the activation of Canvas, reducing the likelihood of triggering it for coding tasks to cater to advanced users.
Accessibility and Availability
The Canvas interface is currently in the beta phase and can be accessed by selecting “GPT-4o with canvas” from ChatGPT’s model picker drop-down menu. Initially available to ChatGPT Plus and Teams users, access will soon expand to Enterprise and Edu users. Once out of beta, Canvas will be accessible to all ChatGPT users, automatically activating when deemed beneficial by ChatGPT.
