OpenAI recently upgraded ChatGPT with its new GPT-6 model, which introduces a feature called Intelligent UI. It's one of the most interesting (and fun) additions and it means ChatGPT can now create interactive experiences with graphics, buttons, charts and more, all directly within the conversation window.

We've already put it to the test by asking ChatGPT to recreate retro games like Pac-Man and Pong. But Intelligent UI goes beyond games. There's no fixed format here, which means you can ask for something specific or let ChatGPT decide how best to present the information. Whether that's a map, a calculator or a custom-built tool with sliders and settings you can play around with.

So I wanted to see what else it could do. Especially whether ChatGPT could build interactive tools that are genuinely helpful rather than just entertaining. I tried six different ideas, from practical everyday tools to more experimental creations. Some prompts were deliberately detailed to see how closely ChatGPT would follow my instructions, while others gave it more freedom to decide what to build. Here's what happened.

1. An interior design app

Prompt:

"Build an interactive room design tool. Show a visual floor plan of a living room with a sofa, coffee table, TV, rug and two bookshelves. But let me change the furniture layout, select color schemes, toggle between different design styles and adjust furniture dimensions. I want the purpose of this to be to see whether the furniture fits and how much free floor space I’d have left."

After creating games within the ChatGPT window last time, I wanted to see whether I could make something genuinely useful this time around.

I've always struggled to visualize how furniture will look in different spaces and I've been looking for an app that lets me experiment with different layouts for my new apartment. So I decided to make my own.

The results were what I was hoping for. An interactive room that lets me drag and drop furniture. And it was very fun to play around with. I liked how many customization options it offered and how quickly it responded when I made changes. Unfortunately, it couldn't make up for my lack of interior design skills. But it was useful for experimenting with layouts and getting a rough idea of how much space I'd have left.

Of course, I haven't verified how accurate its measurements or calculations are, so I wouldn't rely on it to make any big furniture purchases just yet. But I can imagine this becoming even more helpful with a few tweaks, especially if I added the exact dimensions of my rooms and furniture.

2. An ethical dilemma machine

Prompt:

"Build an interactive ethical dilemma simulator. I want to explore difficult decisions involving artificial intelligence, privacy, technology and human behavior. Create an interface that presents me with a realistic, thought-provoking scenario and asks me to choose between possible actions. Give me a final breakdown of my decisions through different ethical frameworks."

My initial instinct with these experiments was to create cool little apps and tools similar to ones I'd seen before. Which makes sense, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of using AI to recreate other people's work, even if I intentionally make things very different.

So I wondered whether I could try something a little more unusual, using the interactive UI to create a question-based experience. A lot of my work involves encouraging people to think more deeply about AI, so this seemed like a good opportunity to explore some of the ethical questions surrounding it.

I really enjoyed the results of this one. ChatGPT created an interactive set of questions then charted the results. The dilemmas it chose were interesting and topical. And having to make decisions and then see them analyzed through different ethical frameworks genuinely got me thinking.

But I did wonder how deeply ChatGPT can really explore ethics. Sure, it can explain philosophical theories and apply them to different situations. But how far does that get us when we're asking a system without its own moral experience to help us navigate complicated human decisions?

So although I enjoyed the results of this one, I did question whether they mean anything. Which is very meta for a tool designed to get us thinking about things in different ways.

3. A life decision simulator

Prompt:

"Create an interactive 'What If?' life simulator. I want to explore how different lifestyle decisions affect my finances and free time over the next five years. Give me options for making changes to annual income, monthly living costs, weekly working hours, savings and investment returns. Let me play around with different scenarios, like only working four days a week, taking a six-month sabbatical, moving somewhere 25% cheaper and increasing my income by 15%."

A lot of people have been telling me recently that they turn to AI for life advice. I've written about people who use ChatGPT like a life coach before, and I'm still very wary of them relying on it to make important personal decisions.

But it got me thinking. What if ChatGPT could help you work through those decisions using actual numbers, rather than simply offering advice?

I loved how this one turned out. ChatGPT presented all of the parameters I specified through a series of sliders that then updated the results in real-time.

It was great to see how easy it was to make small adjustments to my circumstances and immediately see how they might affect my finances and free time over the next five years. I could experiment with different scenarios, compare the results and visualize the potential trade-offs much more clearly.

I think this could be even more useful with further customization. Of course, the results are only as reliable as the assumptions and calculations behind them, which I haven't independently verified. But as a way to explore different possibilities and get you thinking about decisions from another angle, I can see the appeal.

4. An interactive solar system

Prompt:

"Create an interactive solar system simulator. Show the Sun, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, with their orbits visualized. Give me sliders to change the Sun's mass, the Earth's orbital distance and the speed of time. I want buttons to reset the simulation and choose preset experiments, like 'What if the Sun had twice its mass?' and 'What if Earth moved 20% closer?' Update the visualization and show the predicted consequences for orbital period, gravitational force and planetary conditions."

For this one, I decided to get really specific. Rather than simply describing the tool I wanted, I gave ChatGPT detailed instructions about the buttons, sliders and controls I wanted it to include.

In my other experiments, I'd given ChatGPT a fair bit of creative freedom, so it was interesting to see how well it could follow more precise instructions, too.

I particularly liked the potential of this one as a learning tool. For example, if you're studying the solar system, you could create your own simulations, experiment with different variables and see how they affect the planets and their orbits.

However, the problem is I couldn't tell just by looking at it whether the physics or calculations were accurate. That's really worth remembering here before we get too excited. A convincing visualization doesn't necessarily mean the science behind it is correct. That's definitely something to bear in mind if you're using tools like this to learn.

5. A holiday planning dashboard

Prompt:

"Build me an interactive holiday planner. Imagine I’m planning a 7-day trip to Lisbon for two people. Create a visual itinerary with an interactive map, daily activity cards, estimated spending and a running budget total. Make the itinerary and budget update when I change my preferences."

The last time I seriously consulted ChatGPT about travel, it started making up flights. But I know this is another common reason people turn to AI, which is why I wanted to see what it could create.

It came up with a travel guide with a few different parts, including a budget breakdown and an itinerary, which could both be adjusted. Now, the itinerary itself wasn't particularly exciting, and I think you'd find suggestions with a lot more personality and local knowledge on travel blogs. But I could see the appeal of having everything in one interactive dashboard, especially if you customized it around your own interests and budget.

This was fun to play around with, and I think the most useful feature was being able to adjust the budget and preferences and immediately see how that affected the itinerary and estimated costs. That's something I can imagine being genuinely handy when weighing up different options.

I can see myself using something like this to play around with ideas and work out what I can afford. But given ChatGPT's track record with my travel plans, I won't be booking anything without checking the details myself first.

6. Color palette designer

Prompt:

"Create an interactive color palette designer. Take this photo and analyze the main colors in the image and build a visual interface that lets me experiment with different color combinations. Include the hex color code with each so I can use this when I redesign my website. Add interactive controls."

I'm redesigning my website at the moment, but I don't naturally have much of an eye for color. I've used color palette websites before, but I wanted something with a bit more flexibility and this actually worked really well.

Out of all the experiments, this is probably the one I'm most likely to keep using. I liked being able to pull colors directly from an image, see the HEX codes and then tweak the combinations in a more interactive way. It felt practical rather than just novel.

I can see myself continuing to refine this one to get it closer to what I need. That said, I'd still want to sense check any palette before using it properly, especially for things like readability, contrast and accessibility.

All of these tools were fun to experiment with. But they weren't all equally useful. Some felt genuinely practical while others were a little more gimmicky. I got excited about a few of them when I saw they’d first been created and never thought to revisit them.

What stood out to me the most was that the best results came when I treated ChatGPT less like a magic machine and more like something I needed to guide carefully. If you want a tool that's actually useful from the Interactive UI feature, rather than just impressive for a few minutes, I think you have to be willing to tweak the prompt, customize the controls and iterate on the result.

I also think it’s important not to mistake the fact these tools look slick and interactive for them being more trustworthy than they necessarily are. This mattered less in the gaming experiment but a convincing interface doesn’t necessarily mean accurate calculations, reliable travel advice or sound scientific modelling, so a bit of caution here is still essential.

So yes, I might keep using some of them. I can see real potential in ideas like the color palette designer or the life decision simulator, especially because of how customizable they are. But there's also a reason dedicated apps still exist. In many cases, they're still more reliable, refined and most of the time better suited to the job.

OpenAI has just released ChatGPT Images 2.6 across all subscription levels, including Free. It’s only a 0.1 upgrade to the previous Images 2.5, so it should come as no surprise that not that much has changed. In fact, there are only two new features, but they’re both worth your attention.

Firstly, you can now use ChatGPT to make animated GIF images, and second, you can now upload a persistent reference image, so you don’t need to keep uploading it when requesting a lot of different edits.

The first change is perhaps the most immediately interesting, but the second one could become more useful in the long run.

More cat GIFs, please

The Internet can never have enough cat GIFs, so naturally I decided to try the new feature on a photo of my cat, Chester. While Halloween has just been and gone, I thought I’d use that as inspiration for the sort of image I wanted to make of my cat. I used a fairly simple prompt: “Can you make a Halloween GIF of my cat to share with family?”

ChatGPT obliged without any objection, and transformed my cat into a feline wearing a Halloween-themed hat and cape and blinking slowly as a pumpkin flickered in the background. It’s especially fun for my family because there’s no way he’d ever let a human dress him up like this.

Once you’ve created your GIF it gives you a shareable link, so you don’t need to host it anywhere if you want to link people to it. Alternatively, you can download it or share it straight to X, LinkedIn and Reddit.

What ChatGPT produced was ok, but it was hardly going to set the Internet on fire, so I followed up with “That's cool, but it's not very active, can you make it more active please? Get creative.”

“Now we're talking!”, replied ChatGPT. “Your cat's gone full witch mode — casting a spell with a raised paw, conjuring a floating, glowing pumpkin, then giving a triumphant little meow before licking their lips. A proper bit of Halloween mischief!”

Indeed, the resulting GIF was much better, and Chester's movements looked realistic. I think this shows how important your prompt writing is — don’t be afraid to ask ChatGPT to get creative.

Time and time again

Of course, I might want to produce a GIF of this photo for a different occasion in the future so I asked ChatGPT: “Can you save the original photo as Chester so I can reference it again?”

After thinking for a second, it saved the photo as a reference image called Chester. It made a point that it was saving the original snap, not the Halloween versions, and said “In future chats, you can simply say something like: ‘Create a picture of @Chester dressed as a pirate.’ And I'll be able to use his original appearance without you needing to upload the photo again.”

I tested it with the prompt “Make a GIF of @Chester on the moon” and it provided one of Chester as an astronaut chasing a butterfly. How the butterfly was surviving on the moon, and how Chester was surviving when his ears poked through his space helmet, I don’t know, but I’ll go with it anyway.

Saving a reference image is a genuinely useful new feature. It might not be as flashy as the GIF creation, but I think it’s going to come in handy for the future. Overall I’m pretty happy with the Images 2.6 update. Nothing major has changed, but it’s nice to know I can now create a GIF from an image whenever I want, using ChatGPT’s natural language input method.

The best thing about Images 2.6 is how little effort it takes to get something fun out of it. I didn't need animation software, any technical knowledge or even a particularly clever prompt. All I needed was a picture of my cat and a willingness to let ChatGPT get creative. And now that Chester is saved as a reference image, I suspect this won't be his last starring role.

Sam Altman spends much of his time explaining how AI could transform the world for the better and pushing back against doomsayers. Nonetheless, the OpenAI CEO has some fairly unsettling ideas about how AI development could lead to a disaster, or disasters plural. He outlined a couple of these nightmares during an episode of the Figuring Out With Raj Shamani podcast in disturbing detail.

The two dystopias stem from almost opposite problems: either humanity losing control of increasingly powerful machines, or one group seizing control of most of the technology.

"One is that there’s a loss of control to AI, and we intentionally or accidentally sort of cede control of the future to systems that are unbelievably more capable than we are, and we can’t get it back," Altman said. "And the other is like, one person or company or country gets way too powerful relative to everybody else."

The first scenario is less the tired cliché of a robot uprising and more of a soft surrender of humanity's choices to AI until it's impossible to take back any agency from the AI software. The other is a more modern, if still clichéd, speculative-fiction scenario: an overwhelmingly powerful technology controlled by one person or corporation, leaving everyone else at their mercy. They are both endlessly discussed by people in the industry and policymakers, but having Altman issue the warning is still notable.

Altman, through OpenAI and ChatGPT, is one of, if not the central face of AI to those who have heard the bare minimum about the technology and its flaws. Altman believes those capabilities could bring extraordinary benefits, but his comments suggest he's not sanguine about the looming chaos that AI carries as well.

Handing over decisions

Advanced AI taking over because people cede control has only become a real-world concern in recent years as the technology moved beyond simply answering questions and into decision-making territory. AI agents can already interact with websites and complete complex assignments, and developers are working toward systems that require less and less human supervision. The more responsibility those systems receive, the greater the consequences if their objectives diverge from what people actually intended.

It's important to remember that what we call AI now relies on probability prediction in different forms. While very powerful and leveraging huge amounts of data, it can't actually make judgments like a human, and doesn't have to be malicious to be harmful. That's why models tend to opt for the disastrous choice of using nuclear weapons as a strategy when simulating how to run a nation.

Humans might not understand or approve of how an AI pursues an objective, even if humans issued the task. And if the AI model has enough power and is embedded in enough critical systems, people might not be able to redirect or stop it. After all, an AI system told to reduce gridlock on the road might logically conclude the solution is to remove the roads, or send an order to any Wi-Fi-enabled car to stop operating. That particular scenario is very unlikely, but the fact that it's not actually impossible is unnerving enough.

We're all familiar with the more human problem of technological and industrial monopolies Altman extended to AI in his other apocalyptic warning. Plenty of people have sounded the alarm about how there is already too much power in too few hands with too little regulation. Altman's hands being among them doesn't mean he won't criticize the fact.

"I think it’s actually much better for the world for there to be multiple AI efforts with slightly different approaches that are competing with each other and putting out different ways," Altman said. "I also have this like dislike of too intense power concentration. I think that’s not what works, so I’m hopeful we don’t do that.”

Altman's disdain is in some tension with his company's ambitions and actions. Claiming OpenAI is already dominant in several respects, such as AI infrastructure, is an illustration of the dominance he says he worries about.

"I think we have the most users and the best stack from chips to data centers to models to other things that come around that sort of put abundant intelligence into people’s hands. I think we have the best brand and the values that people who are going to use this technology want," Altman said. Nonetheless, he claimed, "we want everybody else to succeed, and I think people can feel that from us.”

Optimistic doomsaying

Despite those warnings, Altman remains fundamentally optimistic about where AI is taking humanity. Asked about his children growing up in a world increasingly shaped by the technology, he expressed confidence that people would find ways to adapt. His outlook suggests that he sees AI's risks as serious challenges to manage rather than reasons to abandon its development.

"I don’t know what the future’s going to look like, but I am comfortable that I have enormous trust in people to figure out how to adapt and thrive and make society better for all of us," Altman said. "I think the world will most likely keep getting much better."

That optimism extends to OpenAI's future plans to apply AI to scientific exploration. He pointed to recent mathematical achievements as evidence that the technology might be approaching a point where it can contribute meaningfully to fundamental research.

"I am extremely excited to see how far we can push AI to discover new science," Altman said. He envisions "a machine that can help us understand the world better, discover the deepest insights in physics, figure out new medical treatments, a new source of energy, things that I think we can’t even imagine but that better scientific understanding will enable. I am extremely excited for us to go build that machine."