How the ChatGPT Canvas Can Help You Use AI More Productively

With several AI platforms and robots competing against each other: there is Copilot, GeminiChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, to name a few: we frequently see new updates and upgrades appearing. One of the more recent additions that OpenAI has made to ChatGPT is called Canvas, and it's kind of like an AI-powered Google Docs.

OpenAI describes it as “a new way to work with ChatGPT for writing and coding”, and this means that you are essentially collaborating with the AI ​​on a text document or on the code of a program. Of course, you can already do this in the main chat interface, but with Canvas it's a bit more like having a fellow AI with you.

Currently you must be a ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT ProOr ChatGPT Plus user (starting at $20 per month) to access the Canvas template. You'll find it in the drop-down menu at the top of the chat screen, in the upper left corner.

Getting started with Canvas

The Canvas interface displays two panes side by side.

Photography: David Nield

With Canvas selected as your AI model, you can begin interacting with ChatGPT as you normally would. Use the prompt box to describe the type of code you need to write or the type of text you need to generate. However, you need to say something to indicate that you want a new canvas to be created: something like “create document” or “start canvas” somewhere in your prompt will do it.

When the ChatGPT Canvas interface launches in full, you'll see the familiar chat conversation on the left and whatever you're working on on the right. You have several different options here. You can enter a new prompt to get more text (or code), you can manually enter something yourself in the canvas pane, or you can select something that ChatGPT has generated and request revisions.

These different options make Canvas a more collaborative mode. In the upper right corner, you'll find shortcuts to view previous versions of your document or copy the text elsewhere. In the lower right corner, you'll find a pop-up toolbox that gives you a variety of options, depending on whether you're writing text or programming code with ChatGPT.

If you're writing, you can find tools to suggest edits, adjust the length of the output created by ChatGPT, change the reading level of the text, tweak the written output, or add emoji to the document. For example, click Reading Level and you can use the slider to make the text more or less complex.