OpenAI Expands ChatGPT’s Capabilities with New Developer Integration
OpenAI has unveiled a groundbreaking feature in its ChatGPT macOS app called ‘Work with Apps’.
Key Points
‘Work with Apps’ feature enables direct AI interaction with popular developer tools including VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2.
The system leverages macOS’s accessibility API and screen reader technology, allowing ChatGPT to automatically read and analyze up to 200 lines of code or entire text windows from active applications.
This functionality of this feature provides developers with contextual AI assistance while coding.
The feature, currently available to Plus and Teams users, relies on Apple’s VoiceOver technology for text extraction and requires specific extensions for certain applications like VS Code.
Users can highlight specific code sections for focused analysis, making the interaction more precise and relevant.
OpenAI plans to extend this capability to Enterprise and Edu users in the coming weeks, with future expansions aimed at supporting additional text-based applications for writing tasks beyond coding.
Background
OpenAI’s ‘Work with Apps’ represents a strategic step toward developing general-purpose AI agents.
Launched as a macOS feature enabling ChatGPT to interact with developer tools, it marks OpenAI’s measured approach to AI integration.
Unlike competitors’ broad-scope solutions, OpenAI focuses on precise, text-based interactions.
This development precedes their anticipated 2025 release of ‘Operator,’ designed to compete with Anthropic and Google’s agent systems.
AI’s Role in Revolutionizing Software Development
ChatGPT helps developers by generating code, debugging issues, explaining programming concepts, and automating repetitive tasks.
It makes coding faster by providing instant help with documentation, offering code reviews, and suggesting improvements.
Developers can also use it to brainstorm ideas and design software. In the future, ChatGPT could become more powerful, assisting with full application development, optimizing code, and automating complex tasks.
It could help with cross-platform development, real-time collaboration, and personalized assistance based on the developer’s style.
As AI evolves, ChatGPT will likely become a central tool, making coding easier and more efficient for developers.
News Gist
OpenAI’s new “Work with Apps” feature in the ChatGPT macOS app enables direct AI interaction with developer tools like VS Code, Xcode, and Terminal.
Using macOS’s accessibility API, ChatGPT can read and analyze up to 200 lines of code or entire text windows.
Available to Plus and Teams users, this feature offers contextual assistance and will expand to more apps and user groups soon.