ChatGPT is getting a lot more visual, with the launch of a new interface

ChatGPT is about to get a lot more visual, thanks to a new feature that OpenAI calls Intelligent UI. The new interface, which is being rolled out Wednesday with a new GPT-6 model, will integrate a significant amount of visuals into users’ conversations.

OpenAI says many of those visuals will be interactive. In other words, instead of just flat, cartoonish pictures, the chatbot will frequently include things like tappable buttons, a customized calculator for a specific task, interactive charts, editable graphs, and other elements the user can work with directly.

The big goal here, according to OpenAI, is to make “learning complex topics easier.” It may also make ChatGPT friendlier and more accessible and help bring in a wider audience, though OpenAI didn’t say so directly.

In a call with journalists, OpenAI staff gave a brief demonstration of Intelligent UI’s capabilities, showing how the new chatbot can instantly whip up various diagrams and visuals that help users understand more abstract topics.

Aarush Selvan, a product manager at the company, said that while “ChatGPT has predominantly been a text-based interface,” the company really wants to help users “get things done — from everyday things like planning a recipe or a trip or even trying to learn something — the most helpful answers aren’t just text.”

Selvan gave the example of a college student wanting to know how an airplane wing functions. He asked ChatGPT to “explore how an airplane wing generates lift” and the chatbot quickly spun up a number of diagrams designed to show how planes stay in the air.

Other examples from the company included things like visuals for recipes, a diagram explaining bicycle mechanics, a map for a multi-day hiking excursion, a personal savings calculator, and more.

This new feature will be customizable. As with other aspects of ChatGPT’s personality, if users don’t want so many visuals in their responses, they’ll be able to dial them back. Intelligent UI rolls out globally with GPT-6 for Pro, Plus, Business, and Enterprise users, and arrives Thursday for users of the free and lower-cost Go tiers.