Microsoft Will Bring ChatGPT to Windows, Users Can Access Directly Through the Desktop

JAKARTA - Microsoft has just taken a big step by allowing direct ChatGPT integration to Windows via PowerToys Run for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Software engineer Simone Franco is behind a project dubbed the ChatGPT plugin for Microsoft PowerToys Run.

The new plugin will later provide direct access to the application made by OpenAI without having to run a browser such as Microsoft Edge first.

PowerToys are a set of user-tailored system utilities, popularized in the 1990s. One of its utilities is a quick launcher through which users can access applications, folders or files with simple commands.

Currently, the feature works with standard Alt+Space commands, but the user must enter an additional double question mark (??) before the query and another single question mark after it, and then the user must also press enter before the chatbot-enabled utility can process the request.

That structure will most likely be tweaked to something more refined for the final product. Even though it is still in its early stages with lots of improvements, it is a promising tool where users can directly access ChatGPT from desktop.

That way, users will no longer see large ads that are prominently displayed in Microsoft Edge, forcing users to make the browser default. They will immediately skip the ad and go to the application they want, in this case, ChatGPT.

However, this tool is not perfect, as users still need an OpenAI account as well as a randomly generated OpenAI API key, as quoted from Digital Trends, Thursday, April 13.

There's still a lot of work for Franco to complete, including figuring out how users can store their OpenAI API keys in the plugin, improvements to the answer view UI, and the copy answer click action.