OpenAI’s freshly released Mac desktop application is becoming increasingly user-friendly. The company has disclosed that when you press Option + Space, the program will now provide simultaneous access to the ChatGPT text prompt.

The desktop variant offers functionality that is nearly indistinguishable from the web-based version. Users can engage in direct chats with the AI, pose inquiries to the system using natural language prompts either in text or voice, peruse previous conversations, and upload documents and images for analysis. You can even capture screenshots of either the entire screen or just a single window for upload.

In an instance presented by the company, a user takes a screenshot of some computer code they are working on and has ChatGPT analyze it, subsequently receiving suggestions on how to enhance it.

The desktop app for macOS now grants you side-by-side access to ChatGPT. Press Option + Space to open a companion window that remains at the forefront, enabling you to utilize it more effortlessly while working with other applications.

Now, although the app operates locally, the machine learning processes still occur in OpenAI’s cloud. Hence, an internet connection is necessary for its usage. You also need to be running macOS 14 and have Apple Silicon M1 or a superior version (a Windows version is anticipated later this year).

As evident in the announcement video mentioned above, the desktop version holds several advantages over the online one. For instance, users do not actually have to upload entire documents for analysis. You can simply highlight a portion of the document and then directly ask ChatGPT about it through the local text window.

And while it does not (yet) offer the Advanced Voice Mode, the desktop version does permit users to employ the existing Standard Voice Mode, which brings us tantalizingly close to a future where we can frequently initiate conversations by shouting “Computer!”