Seems to me this is just a way for OpenAI to try and build a moat by putting everyone into their cloud so they can build the tooling internally without exposing it to anyone, causing greater vendor lock-in. Not to mention giving them free reign over all of your data. For that reason, I'll never touch it.
Understanding ChatGPT Work
161–170 of 216 posts
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#162I just updated the article to link to this site: https://codex-tool-reference.simonw.chatgpt.site/ Which I created using this prompt in a fresh Work session: > Build a site that lists every one of your tools - nearly grouped into categories - and for each one explain what it does. Try to exactly duplicate arguments and tool descriptions where possible. Design aesthetic should be technical docs, minimal flare UPDATE:…
Honest question: why would I ever visit that site? It's just an insane amount of text. Not written or curated by you. Any need for me for this data would be fulfilled by just asking the agent myself, and with pointed questions it could float better what I need than this vomit of data?
To see how these things work under the hood so that we can enhance our own personal innovation.
The same reason that one would want to know how an LLM works or what the Win32 API looks like.
Either to make better use of a tool, to build our own tools that follow design patterns we learn when we look at the work done by others, or even to learn what not to do.
Those are just some of the numerous reasons a person might be interested to peek under the hood.
If anything, I'd guess OpenAI is going to clamp down this transparency in the future.
So this may end up being a final rare glimpse into how a tool like this works for those of us who want to understand how the sausage is made and learn from it.
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#163I recently figured out that I could use ChatGPT Work on my Pixel Phone to build native Android apps. It builds the app and you can then directly download/install the APK. So now I just build small utility apps on-the-go whenever I need them :)
Can you write an article about this please? I would love to read and understand this flow and some of the apps you've built with it.
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just simple throwaway apps for myself. For example, an app to control my soundbar. Or an app that helped me figure out which WIFI hotspot to use for better internet during camping. It's not that deep :)
Ah the hotspot one sounds fun, does it just look at signal quality?
Yes, I used it to track WIFI signals and download/upload speeds over a period of two days. It stored the results in a log file and I then let ChatGPT inspect the log file. Based on that, I then ordered a WIFI extender. Now I have the perfect WIFI at our (permanent) camping spot. :) Didn't use the app afterward anymore.
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#165Missing from here is the marketing position. Claude _very_ rapidly gained traction in the business/enterprise space earlier this year with Claude Cowork leading that drive. So successful it was, it lead to Microsoft licensing the Claude Cowork IP and white labelling it as Copilot Cowork (has anything like that ever happened before?!). ChatGPT Work was, imo, largely driven by a panic at OpenAI that they were haemorrha…
It's funny coz it seemed like they also cloned the confusion.
I don't really understand what Claude Cowork is. Sometimes I use it instead of plain Claude Chat for tasks that "feel big"? And when I've done that I've felt this was the right choice. But until I actually had that session up and running I would not be able to articulate what Cowork is or enumerate any specifics of how I expected it to behave. I just thought "maybe this is a Cowork task?"
(I have only used the cloud one. My understanding is the the local app is essentially Claude Code but for non-coders, which matches the description of the OpenAI equivalent).
Even as someone who's now used it a few times I wouldn't have been able to articulate as many details as Simon W does in this article, it's a weirdly shaped product structure.
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#166I think most people are sleeping on the ChatGPT Work/Codex computer use feature. It's incredibly useful. I can remote in from the app, voice it instructions, then let it work in the background. When I tell it "draft a reply to this email (which it has access to thru the gmail connector) and attach the latest docs" or "fill out this multistep immigration electronic travel authorisation form using my passport files sav…
> draft a reply to this email If a botted reply is OK, why do they email you instead of the bot?
Since the word "draft" was used, it is safe to assume that the message will be reviewed and potentially amended before being sent.
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#167I recently figured out that I could use ChatGPT Work on my Pixel Phone to build native Android apps. It builds the app and you can then directly download/install the APK. So now I just build small utility apps on-the-go whenever I need them :)
Can you write an article about this please? I would love to read and understand this flow and some of the apps you've built with it.
1. Install the ChatGPT app on your Android Phone.
2. Open it and start a session in "Work" mode.
3. Prompt something like "Create an Android app that does XYZ, provide it as APK".
4. Download and install the APK.
5. Keep on iterating on the app by prompting stuff like "Now add feature XYZ" or "XYZ doesn't work, fix it.". It then always creates a new APK which you can download and update your installed app with.
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Using Work/Codex I'm continually amazed at how far my experience is from the popular AI memes like "this will destroy all jobs" and "AI is useless and is about to crash and take the economy with it." My experience feels like I'm in an Iron Man movie. I get up in the morning, I turn on the voice chat mode, and while I'm making my coffee I ask it to highlight any important emails I received overnight. I then babble to…
Not to come across as dismissive of your job, but if a "day's worth of email" can be done in 20 minutes now, it to me mostly highlights that it was mostly busy-work with little value and could have had another process? Good that AI improved upon the old process, though.
I mean, I can't stop people from emailing me. I get over a hundred non-spam, non-mailing-list emails on some days. I'm not able to respond to most of them. I'm often not expected to, I'm just being copied in as a FYI. The AI is able to assess subject and intent well enough to determine what should receive my limited time, and through the voice interface it converts "making coffee" time into "composing email" time. I do read every email that's sent to me eventually, but it can take several weeks in some cases. I don't let AI reply to anything for me, but I'm happy to have it propose a draft.
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's already here. My company received an AI generated bug report the other day, and my AI employee ("R. Axiom") noticed, analyzed it, prepared a fix, tested it and replied to it. I wasn't involved, although I will review, merge and release the fix.
An agent with full access to your codebase is able to email out without supervision in response to an untrusted messsage?
Surely passing untrusted input to a agent with execution capabilities and also possibility to reply to the same author, couldn't possibly be used for anything negative? Parent is probably using a firewall so it's A-OK :thumbs_up:
Re: Understanding ChatGPT Work
#170I like to maintain my Agency, so no thanks.
I suppose people like me will be rarer and rarer as the years pass by.
Thankfully I am going to FIRE (by my own choice) soon.
For all the youngsters and people still in the rat race. Godspeed to you. Take control of your future. Shape it as much as you can, don't let others dictate it.