My favorite ChatGPT feature just got way more powerful

One of the best ways to use ChatGPT is as a co-editor, leveraging the chatbot’s intelligence to double-check and enhance your work. Since the feature launched in October, it has been an incredible tool for writing; however, it hasn’t been the most optimal for coding tasks — until today.

Also: I’m a ChatGPT power user – here’s why Canvas is its best productivity feature

o1 integration

On Friday, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT’s Canvas feature is getting several highly anticipated features, with the biggest being its integration with o1. The o1 model is OpenAI’s most advanced LLM for STEM-related tasks, as it spends more time reasoning through prompts and produces more accurate results.

Consequently, pairing Canvas with o1 will make it an ideal assistant for coding tasks. The Canvas feature offers the advantage of a side-by-side editor interface, while o1 leverages OpenAI’s most advanced reasoning capabilities, guaranteeing better coding assistance.

How to use o1 in Canvas

To activate Canvas with o1, all you need to do is select o1 from the model picker in the upper-left corner of your ChatGPT screen and then either click on the tiny toolbox under the text box or enter the “/canvas” command.

To make Canvas even more ideal for coding assistance, OpenAI also added the ability to render React and HTML code to Canvas, allowing developers to instantly see the visual outputs of their code — resulting in a more efficient coding session.

Also: OpenAI’s new ChatGPT agent can perform interactive tasks on your behalf

Both of these features will be rolling out to paid subscribers, starting with Pro, Plus, Team, and Free users today, and Enterprise and Edu users in a couple of weeks. At the time of writing this article, as a ChatGPT Plus user, I already had access to the features.

Beyond coding, OpenAI also added full Canvas support on the MacOS desktop. This feature is available to all MacOS desktop app users, regardless of tier. Other perks of the ChatGPT desktop app include faster access to the chatbot via a keyboard shortcut and assistance with content on your screen. To download the app, just click on this link and then “Download for MacOS.”