While DevDay 2024 did bring in several cool announcements, developers had been really hoping for an AI coding tool from OpenAI, given the hype around Cursor, Zed, and Claude Artifacts. Not one to disappoint, just a few days later, OpenAI has introduced canvas, a new interface for writing and coding that expands ChatGPT’s functionality beyond simple conversation.
Many developers are dubbing it a Cursor replacement, while others are still questioning its worth. “Somebody check on the Cursor team, please,” said Santiago Valdarrma, while others say that OpenAI is coming for all the VS Code forks.
Similar to Claude Artifacts, canvas’ interface allows users to work on writing and coding projects side by side with ChatGPT, offering real-time edits, feedback, and suggestions. It is integrated with GPT-4o and can be manually selected in the model picker.
The recently released OpenAI o1 is a great model for reasoning, but falls short when it comes to coding abilities. Canvas makes up for it. OpenAI decided to use GPT-4 and GPT-4o for this coding interface, and not o1, which explains that o1 was never meant for coding.
Cursor Killer? Not Yet
With the introduction of canvas, ChatGPT is now able to better understand the context of user projects. Developers can highlight specific sections, allowing ChatGPT to focus on targeted areas and provide inline feedback and suggestions, similar to the role of a copy editor or code reviewer.
“It can also review code, add logs and comments, fix bugs, and port to other coding languages like JavaScript and Python,” said OpenAI in the blog post. The team said that canvas improves decision-making accuracy for when to trigger coding tasks, reaching 94% compared to baseline models.
Users maintain full control of their projects in canvas, with the ability to directly edit text or code. A menu of shortcuts enables quick actions such as adjusting writing length, debugging code, and performing other tasks. The system automatically opens canvas when it detects complex scenarios and can be triggered manually by including “use canvas” in a prompt.
It seems like with just a few more updates, OpenAI can make a complete Cursor alternative. But since OpenAI is the first backer of Anysphere, the company building Cursor, it may not, after all, want to be in direct competition with them.
Basically, canvas is a great code editor without any context of the codebase, routes, or logs. On the other hand, Cursor gives users complete control within the IDE, and you have the option to bring in other models.
Moreover, when it comes to killing Cursor, OpenAI is highly unlikely to get into the IDE business as that would mean competing with Microsoft’s VS Code, and not just Cursor. Moreover, OpenAI has already partnered with Cursor for providing its o1 models on their AI editing platform.
OpenAI Doesn’t Want to Just be on the Platform Layer
Canvas feels more like a competitor to Claude Artifacts right now, but without the visualisation and the execution of code it writes, which also seems to be just another update away.
People have started comparing canvas with Claude, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot, and they claim that with this update, OpenAI might just make a lot of people shift back to ChatGPT for writing and coding, since the UX of ChatGPT is just a lot better.
Simultaneously, according to sources, Microsoft has plans to upgrade its capabilities on the VS Code IDE, which would help it compete with Cursor.
Moreover, GitHub Copilot is also heavily investing in and introducing new features for its coding assistant platform. A few weeks ago, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke posted on X a video of GitHub Copilot in VS Code running with OpenAI’s o1 model, which he called “flat out badass”.
The race to be the best AI coding tool seems to be getting intense with OpenAI entering the fray. Apart from just providing models for other platforms, the company has decided to allow code editing on ChatGPT, which would make others in the market cry for help.
