OpenAI Releases A Dedicated ChatGPT MacOS App To All Users, Before Windows

The AI industry was dull and slow, before OpenAI made created an arms race for many to compete.

Since releasing ChatGPT, pretty much all major tech companies either try to develop their own Large Language Models to rival OpenAI's, or opt to partner with it. And this time, ChatGPT has been made available to all Apple desktop users.

There is no exception, as long as they're running an Apple Silicon Mac, on macOS Sonoma or higher.

The dedicated app for the generative AI product first came out in mid-May, ahead of Apple’s WWDC 2024, but it saw a slow rollout that was limited to ChatGPT Plus subscribers.

This move adds to the previous announcement, in which OpenAI is bringing Apple Intelligence to a number of Apple devices.

With a dedicated ChatGPT app, macOS users can quickly call up ChatGPT by using the keyboard combination of Option + Space after installing the ChatGPT app.

What this means, the chatbot can be called from anywhere in macOS.

This makes access to the AI chatbot something that will immediately feel familiar to macOS users who regularly use other keyboard shortcuts to bring up the search bar, for example.

But instead of more traditional search, having ChatGPT right inside macOS allows users to have access to a wider world of knowledge.

With it, users can upload files and other photos via the macOS app, as well as speak to ChatGPT from their desktop and search through their past conversations.

ChatGPT cites its ability to "Chat about email, screenshots, files, and anything on your screen."

And that everything, is only one button combination away.

Once launched, ChatGPT appears as a chat interface overlaid on top of the screen.

With the wider rollout, no subscription plan is necessary for using ChatGPT on the Mac.

It's worth noting that OpenAI has made the powerful GPT-4o available for free, but for a limited number of requests.

OpenAI in bringing ChatGPT to MacOS is kind of ironic, given that at this time, there's no official ChatGPT for Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, and has been using its technology throughout many of its products through the 'Copilot' project.

Yet, rival Apple is getting the first support for a dedicated ChatGPT app.

However, despite not having an official Windows app, it's worth noting that on Windows 11, Microsoft has directly baked its OpenAI-powered CoPilot right into its OS, which likely explains the omission.