ChatGPT’s canvas interface helps you edit your writing and code on the fly. But is the editing any good?
To find out, you’ll need to cough up the bucks. Last October Open AI released canvas to ChatGPT Plus and Team users only. For $20 a month, you can unlock canvas, which lets you apply artificial intelligence to specific passages or lines of code in a more collaborative way.
Having been a professional creator for over 10 years, I’m always looking for ways to work more efficiently as I build my business Feisworld Media. I’ve used ChatGPT every day since its launch in 2022, and originally subscribed to the Plus version for a different feature, ChatGPT Advanced Voice. It wasn’t until I got my hands on the “canvas” feature that I understood how helpful it could be in my day-to-day efforts.
Here’s how my experience with canvas has gone so far, along with how you can use the tool beyond basic chat functions.
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Getting started with GPT-4o with canvas
You used to be able to select GPT-4o with canvas as your model before prompting. Now, ChatGPT automatically anticipates whether you’ll need a canvas.
The user interface for canvas looks similar to ChatGPT-4o, but the output is different. Instead of a simple chat window, canvas shows your original prompt and ongoing chat in the left window, and the writing output in the right window.
Compared to ordinary ChatGPT-4o, canvas offers a more robust experience for work that requires revisions. Whether it’s brainstorming ideas, drafting an email or completing an article, we’re rarely 100% satisfied with the initial output from a ChatGPT chatbot. Canvas lets you apply revisions and changes directly inside the original output without having to generate an entirely new response. It’s a more interactive experience that allows creators and writers to fine-tune their output by seeing an entire document in one place.
Canvas also lets you easily edit, format, reformat or adjust content. I asked ChatGPT to specify its rich text options by highlighting a phrase and asking a follow-up question, and the response I received was that canvas rich text can include bold, italics, underlining, headings, bullet points, links and block quotes as needed.
Canvas lets you highlight sections of the initial output and ask follow-up questions.
Writing with ChatGPT canvas
You can also make document-wide edits and improvements in the canvas interface. In the right window, navigate to the lower right-hand corner of the screen. You’ll see a list of options when you hover over the pen icon.
Options include adding emoji, adding final polish, adjusting for reading level, adjusting length and suggesting edits. From my experience, the most useful features of this menu were:
- Reading level. It provides an easy dial for you to adjust the reading level to kindergarten, middle school, high school, college or graduate school.
- Length adjustment. The length adjustment options here include shortest, shorter, longer and longest.
- Suggest edits. This feature tells ChatGPT to comment on its own output, as well as in combination with your writing.
Coding with ChatGPT canvas
Did you know that ChatGPT canvas can also help you learn how to program, write better code, debug, optimize and even prepare documentations? If you’re a software developer, canvas can transform the way you work.
Specifically, canvas can write code snippets for a particular function or solve a problem, then collaborate with developers to refine their code through an interactive process (known as iterative development), while keeping track of all the changes in one place.
Developers can also use canvas as a learning tool. The interface can provide explanations alongside code or test out new libraries and frameworks before implementation. I majored in computer science in college, and nearly two decades later I still shudder at how dreadful it was to debug complex and multistep programs. I wish I’d had canvas back then. The feature can help both new and experienced developers pinpoint potential issues early and effectively.
Coding with canvas isn’t only for developers, but also everyday creators and small business owners like me. It’s been decades since I regularly coded at a job and my programming skills are a bit rusty; when I used canvas to build newsletter blocks for my client’s WordPress website, I was able to change colors within a code block without having to remember how to tweak individual lines in a specific programming language.
With canvas, you can easily instruct it to program in nearly any language. When you want to translate from one language to another (e.g. Python to JavaScript, or PHP to simple HTML embed code), canvas has you covered.
Should you try ChatGPT canvas?
If you’ve already experimented with ChatGPT, canvas can take your AI interaction to the next level, offering more collaboration for you and your team.
Working in canvas feels more like having a thinking partner than a one-way interaction. It propels me to trust my own problem-solving abilities over relying completely on ChatGPT. If you’re already using the Plus or Team plan, or you could see yourself getting a lot of value out of canvas as a tool, give it a try.
Opinions expressed by CNET Perspectives contributors are their own.
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