ChatGPT Work and ChatGPT Classic
John Gruber, earlier this week:
When ChatGPT is attached to an open document in another app, it’s not a snapshot at the moment of attachment, like what you’d get by copying and pasting the whole thing into the chat, or by dragging the current version of the file into the chat. It’s a live ongoing attachment, so as the attached document/note changes, ChatGPT sees the changes. It’s such a great feature, and I don’t think it exists on any platform but the Mac. And it couldn’t exist on iOS, by design, doesn’t allow for inter-application communication.
OpenAI today announced ChatGPT Work, a ChatGPT agent with built-in Codex that can complete tasks across web, mobile, and desktop using information from your apps. ChatGPT Work can execute multi-step tasks, using scheduling to work independently. Like Claude Cowork, ChatGPT can use your computer to do tasks in the background across apps.
[…]
With OpenAI merging Codex and ChatGPT, there is a new ChatGPT desktop app that’s available across Mac and Windows. Users who have the Codex app installed can update it to turn it into the new ChatGPT desktop app. The existing ChatGPT desktop app is being renamed ChatGPT Classic.
You can watch today’s livestream announcement video below[…]
[…]
It’s possible to have ChatGPT Classic, ChatGPT, and Codex installed, but the way forward seems to be just running the new ChatGPT desktop app. Codex users can still use the Codex app icon, but the app will be called ChatGPT.
The ChatGPT Classic app looks more native Mac-like, so that might be an issue for users.
LOL @ OpenAI replacing the native AppKit ChatGPT app with the Electron Codex app after @gruber’s recent posts on the topic 😂
(It’s almost like Apple doesn’t have clear messaging on the right way to build native desktop apps anymore, and, if Apple doesn’t know, why on earth would third-party developers make that investment)
The rollout of the unified ChatGPT for Mac app really isn’t going well on X/Reddit 🥶
They kinda fumbled it and I think Anthropic did a slightly better job on first try. Even OpenAI’s existing iOS app makes more sense than their new Mac layout right now.
The difference between “normal” chatbot chats, Work/Cowork harnesses with connectors, and Code/Codex local threads and filesystem access is the new UX hell for these companies.
The chat experience is ChatGPT. Now it’s squirreled away in a sub section of a sub pane inside a vastly more-complex app. It’s hard to imagine anybody who actually wants to use ChatGPT wants to use it this way, Electron or not. And as a Codex user, I resent having my Codex deleted and renamed ‘ChatGPT’ instead. I don’t want my ‘chats’ anywhere near my ‘work’. This feels like a stupid move that will decimate casual ChatGPT desktop usage
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
See also: Dithering.
Previously:
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"It’s a live ongoing attachment, so as the attached document/note changes, ChatGPT sees the changes"
The new version of ChatGPT still has that and uses accessibility for it. It uses a separate app called Codex Computer Use to enable the feature in the regular ChatGPT app.
"I don’t think it exists on any platform but the Mac."
The Windows version has the same feature, fwiw.
"The ChatGPT Classic app looks more native Mac-like, so that might be an issue for users."
Aesthetically, they look practically the same. But the non-native version feels much snappier.
"And as a Codex user, I resent having my Codex deleted"
I suspect most people who seriously use OpenAI's models for development never used Codex (the app) in the first place.
I upgraded to the new version and immediately reverted. I like having Chat and Codex as separate apps. The new app downgrades chat down to almost nothing, I have no idea what they were thinking.
