OpenAI Announces Canvas for ChatGPT

OpenAI today announced Canvas, a new collaborative ChatGPT interface for writing and software coding. It’s available now in an early beta for ChatGPT Plus and Team users. It’s coming to Enterprise and Edu users next week, and OpenAI will make it available to free users once it’s out of beta.

“Canvas goes beyond simple chat,” the announcement post explains. “Canvas opens in a separate window, allowing you and ChatGPT to collaborate on a project. This early beta introduces a new way of working together—not just through conversation, but by creating and refining ideas side by side.”

Canvas was built with GPT-4o. When engaged, the normal ChatGPT chat experience appears on the left, while a text or code editor appears on the right. As you write and edit, ChatGPT will scan the document in the editor and propose changes. But you can also select specific portions of the document to focus ChatGPT.

According to OpenAI, Canvas will appear automatically when ChatGPT detects scenarios in which it may be useful. But you can also use Canvas manually or use it to work on an existing project.

For writers, Canvas can suggest edits, make the document or selection shorter or longer, adjust the reading level between Kindergarten and Graduate School, check for grammar, clarity, and consistency, and add emojis for emphasis. For coders, it can provide inline suggestions, insert print statements so you can more easily debug and understand code, add comments, and port code between the JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, C++, and PHP languages.