In recent time, there has been a surge in the quest for artificial intelligence (AI) and its usage, including the popular ChatGPT which has significantly received patronage from people of all ages since it became known. It would, however, not be off point to assume that not everyone understands exactly what ChatGPT is and why it is important in the 21st century. This article will give you a deeper understanding of what this new technology (artificial) entails and expose you to various important facts that you need to know about it, so stay glued.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI. In other words, it is an AI chatbot with natural language processing (NLP) that allows you to have human-like conversations to complete various tasks. Built on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture, specifically the GPT-4 version, which was released in 2023, the generative AI tool can answer questions and assist you with various writing needs for free, although there is a paid version which guarantees users access to the company’s latest models and updates.
What is ChatGPT used for?
ChatGPT is designed to carry out a myriad of functions for its users which range from answering simple questions to offering other writing needs such as the composition of essays, engaging in philosophical conversations, solving mathematical problems and even coding based on the prompts.
Thus, ChatGPT amongst other chatbots can be used to write an essay, create an app, write code, build your resume, write Excel formulas, summarize content, write a cover letter, create charts and tables, write Arduino drivers, browse the web and do even more.
Can ChatGPT help me apply for jobs?
Indeed, ChatGPT is a really useful tool when applying for jobs. This is because sometimes, the process of hunting for a job and putting materials together can be tiresome and challenging. With ChatGPT, the work can be made easier as it can help you with cover letter and resume writing. You can also utilise ChatGPT to produce essays or personal statements if your application requires any written extras.
Is ChatGPT available for free?
Although there is a paid version, ChatGPT is free, regardless of what you use it for.
The earliest ChatGPT was introduced (still in existence) as a free version, but in February 2023, OpenAI launched a paid version of the chatbot, “ChatGPT plus,” whose cost for subscription is pegged at $20 per month. The paid subscription model gives you extra perks, such as priority access to GPT-4o, DALL-E 3, and the latest upgrades.
Although the subscription price may seem steep, it is the same amount as Microsoft Copilot Pro and Google One AI Premium, Microsoft’s and Google’s paid AI offerings.
The free version is still a solid option, as it can access the same model and perks. One major exception: only subscribers get guaranteed access to GPT-4o when the model is at capacity.
How can you access ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is accessible via the web and mobile App on both android and IOS devices. Initially, it was a necessity for every user to create an account and log in before they could access the chatbot but on April 1, 2024, OpenAI stopped requiring users to log in to ChatGPT. Now, you can access ChatGPT simply by visiting chat.openai.com.
However, this comes with a demerit as you may not be able to save and retrieve chat history, access custom instructions and may even lack free access to GPT-40.
You can also access ChatGPT via an app on your iPhone or Android device. Once you visit the site, you can start chatting away with ChatGPT. Also, signing up is free and easy; you can use your existing Google login.
Is there a ChatGPT app?
Yes, there is an official ChatGPT app available for iPhone and Android users. It is downloadable via Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. Look out for fake apps nott affiliated with the brand!
Also, there is a ChatGPT app for MacOS, which lets you access the chatbot quickly via a keyboard shortcut. The Mac app is currently available for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, but OpenAI plans to release it for all users in the coming months.
Is ChatGPT safe?
The safety of using ChatGPT is not 100% guaranteed yet. This is because since its inception, concerns have been raised over its capabilities and perceived impact on humans.
For example, chatbots can write an entire essay in seconds. This raises concerns about students cheating and not learning how to write properly. Similarly, AI chatbots possesses the possibility to spread misinformation and this raises another significant concern about its safety.
ChatGPT says: “My responses are not intended to be taken as fact, and I always encourage people to verify any information they receive from me or any other source.” OpenAI also notes that ChatGPT sometimes writes “plausible sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers.”
Lastly, there are ethical and privacy concerns regarding the information ChatGPT was trained on. According to the chatbot, “OpenAI scraped the internet to train the chatbot without asking content owners for permission to use their content,” which brings up many copyright and intellectual property concerns.
Additionally, the practice of generative AI businesses using your data to further refine their models raises privacy concerns. You can disable training in ChatGPT’s settings using OpenAI.
Is ChatGPT secure, then? OpenAI has put in place a number of choices to reassure consumers that their data won’t be used to train models, if privacy is your top concern. You can even disable your communication history with the company. In case you are worried about the moral and ethical issues, there is still a lot of discussion surrounding them.
Will my conversations with ChatGPT be used for training?
OpenAI will, by default, use your conversations with the free chatbot to train data to refine its models unless you opt out of the startup using your data for model training by clicking on the question mark in the bottom left-hand corner, Settings, and turning off “Improve the model for everyone.”
I tried using ChatGPT and it says it’s at capacity. What does that mean?
Upon attempting to access its website, ChatGPT may notify you that it is at capacity. This can happen when there are too many people using on the server at the particular time. To resolve this however, you can visit the site later when fewer people are trying to access the tool. You can also keep the tab open and refresh it periodically.
To have undistorted access at any time, you can equally subscribe to ChatGPT Plus for general access during peak times, faster response times and priority access to new features and improvements, including priority access to GPT-4o. You can also try using Microsoft’s AI chatbot, Copilot which is free to use, runs on GPT-4, has no wait times, and can access the internet.
What does ChatGPT stand for?
From our findings, the last three letters in ChatGPT’s name stand for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer” (GPT). It is a family of large language models created by OpenAI that uses deep learning to generate human-like, conversational text.
On its part, the “Chat” part of the name is simply a callout to its chatting capabilities.
Can ChatGPT generate images?
Yes, with the aid of DALL-E 3, ChatGPT can generate images for ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
On their part, Microsoft’s Copilot offers free image generation and his is also powered by DALL-E 3, in its chatbot.
How exactly does ChatGPT work?
ChatGPT operates by predicting the next word in a sentence based on the context provided by previous words. It uses a transformer architecture, which runs on a large language model (LLM) created by OpenAI and called the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT).
ChatGPT, since its launch, ran a free version of ChatGPT on a fine-tuned model in the GPT-3.5 series until May 2024, when the start-up upgraded the model to GPT-4o.
With a subscription to ChatGPT Plus, you can access GPT-3.5, GPT-4, or GPT-4o. Plus users also have the added perk of priority access to GPT-4o, even when it is at capacity, while free users get booted down to GPT-3.5.
Generative AI models of this type are trained on vast amounts of information from the internet, including websites, books, news articles, and more. Interestingly, ChatGPT’s architecture includes mechanisms like self-attention to weigh the importance of different words in the input. This allows it to generate responses that are contextually appropriate and coherent.
Who owns ChatGPT currently?
While Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI via its multiyear, multi-billion-dollar investments, ChatGPT is currently owned by OpenAI, an AI startup which launched the chatbot on November 30, 2022.
SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk was also an investor when OpenAI was first founded in 2015 but has ceased associating and communicating with the startup in recent time. Elon Musk has also created his own AI chatbot, Grok.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has also developed other AI generative tools including DALL-E 2 and DALL-E 3 which are popular AI image generators and Whisper which is an automatic speech recognition system.
Is ChatGPT better than a search engine?
Neither ChatGPT nor search engine is better than the other. Both play their unique roles in their own distinctive styles. Therefore, while ChatGPT is an AI chatbot created to converse with the end user, a search engine indexes web pages on the internet to help users find information.
When searching for as much up-to-date, accurate information as possible, your best bet is a search engine because it will provide you with pages upon pages of sources you can peruse.
But ChatGPT can be what you’re seeking for if you want a platform that can make difficult subjects understandable. Many AI search engines mix both, so you can get the best of both worlds.
What are ChatGPT’s limitations?
ChatGPT has limitations even with its amazing potential. Sometimes users must ask questions again before ChatGPT grasps what they mean. A more significant drawback is the poor quality of the responses, which may sound reasonable but are lengthy or nonsensical.
When you ask unclear queries, the model makes an educated guess as to what you intend, which can result in mediocre answers. Additionally susceptible to hallucinations, generative AI algorithms may provide incorrect results.
Does ChatGPT give wrong answers?
Sometimes, ChatGPT can give wrong answers. Although this is common to all language models, it is important to double-check the answers it gives you.
To reduce the occurrence of this limitation, it is important to adhere to the following tips:
- Avoid ambiguity and vagueness
- Avoid merging unrelated concepts
- Avoid describing impossible scenarios
- Avoid using fictional or fantastical entities
- Avoid contradicting known facts
Moreover, OpenAI recommends you provide feedback on what ChatGPT generates by using the thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons to improve its underlying model. You can also join the startup’s Bug Bounty program, which offers up to $20,000 for reporting security bugs and safety issues.
Can ChatGPT refuse to answer my prompts?
Yes, AI systems like ChatGPT can and do reject prompts that they consider inappropriate.
Prompts that are considered inappropriate may include requests and/or questions that violate someone’s rights, are offensive, are discriminatory or involve illegal activities. The ChatGPT model can also challenge incorrect premises, answer follow-up questions and even admit mistakes when you point them out.
The AI assistant can identify inappropriate submissions to prevent unsafe content generation.
Does ChatGPT plagiarize?
ChatGPT’s knowledge is influenced by other people’s work. This is largely due to the fact that OpenAI scraped the internet to train ChatGPT’s models. Therefore, since there is no guarantee that ChatGPT’s outputs are entirely original, the chatbot may reproduce someone else’s work in your answer, which is considered plagiarism.
Furthermore, copying and pasting ChatGPT’s response is considered plagiarism since it represents you as the author of the content. There may be consequences to this action.
Is there a ChatGPT detector?
Currently, there is no reliable AI-generated text detector anywhere in the world. Despite many attempts, developers have failed to come up with a detector that is 100% efficient.
Even OpenAI itself had released a free tool to detect AI-generated text way back in January 2023 but the tool performed so poorly that, six months after its release, OpenAI shut it down “due to its low rate of accuracy.”
While OpenAI claims that is still researching more effective techniques for AI text identification, we found that the tool it earlier introduced could only correctly identify 26% of AI-written text with a “likely AI-written” designation.
We also learnt that the tool provided false positives 9% of the time, incorrectly identifying human-written work as AI-produced.
Relatedly, other AI detectors exist on the market, including GPT-2 Output Detector, Writer AI Content Detector, and Content at Scale’s AI Content Detection tool. A recent test conducted on these tools, and the results revealed that all three were unreliable sources for spotting AI, repeatedly giving false negatives.
What is GPT-4?
GPT-4 is OpenAI’s language model, much more advanced than its predecessor, GPT-3.5. GPT-4 outperforms GPT-3.5 in a series of simulated benchmark exams and produces fewer hallucinations. Users can access GPT-4 by subscribing to ChatGPT Plus for $20 per month or by using Microsoft’s Copilot.
What is GPT-4o?
GPT-4o is OpenAI’s latest, fastest, and most advanced flagship model. As the name implies, GPT-4o has the same intelligence as GPT-4. However, the “o” in the title stands for “omni”, referring to its multimodal capabilities, which allow the model to understand text, audio, image, and video inputs and output text, audio, and image outputs.
The model is 50% cheaper in OpenAI’s API than GPT-4 Turbo while still matching its English and coding capabilities and outperforming it in non-English language, vision, and audio understanding — a big win for developers.
What are the best ChatGPT alternatives?
Although ChatGPT gets the most buzz and some extensive abilities, other chatbots have advantages that might be better suited for your use case, including Copilot, Claude, Perplexity, Jasper and more depending on your specific need.
What are GPTs?
OpenAI once offered plugins for ChatGPT to connect to third-party applications and access real-time information on the web. The plugins expanded ChatGPT’s abilities, allowing it to assist with many more activities, such as planning a trip or finding a place to eat.
However, on March 19, 2024, OpenAI stopped letting users install new plugins or start new conversations with existing ones. Instead, OpenAI replaced plugins with GPTs, which are easier for developers to build.
With the latest update, all users, including those on the free plan, can access the GPT Store and find 3 million customized ChatGPT chatbots. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of spam in the GPT store, so be careful which ones you use.
What is Microsoft’s involvement with ChatGPT?
Long before ChatGPT was made available to the general public, Microsoft was one of the first investors in OpenAI, the AI startup that created the app. According to sources, Microsoft spent $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, marking the company’s initial engagement with the technology. Subsequently, the corporation made an additional $2 billion of investments. Microsoft renewed their collaboration with OpenAI in January 2023 by investing billions of dollars over a number of years.
The investment figure was not disclosed by either corporation, but unidentified sources told Bloomberg that it may total $10 billion over a number of years. In exchange, Microsoft Azure serves as OpenAI’s only cloud computing provider, powering all workloads related to research, products and API services.
How does Copilot compare to ChatGPT?
Since its release, Copilot has outperformed the regular, free version of ChatGPT due to its use of OpenAI’s GPT-4. Compared to ChatGPT, Copilot offered a number of additional capabilities at the time, including footnotes, internet connection and knowledge of current events. But OpenAI enhanced the GPT-4o version of its chatbot, which was available for free, in May 2024. Users now have access to GPT-4 level intelligence and can utilise ChatGPT to retrieve responses from the web, use Bing to browse, analyse data, have conversations about documents and photographs, use GPTs, access the GPT Store, and utilise Voice Mode. Following the update, ChatGPT took back the top spot among AI chatbots.
What is Gemini and how does it relate to ChatGPT?
Google’s AI chat service Gemini competes with ChatGPT. Google first revealed Google Bard, its experimental AI chat service, on February 6, 2023. Moreover, thirty days following the declaration, Google started granting Bard first access through a queue. The public can now access the tool.
What is Apple’s involvement with OpenAI?
During the June 2024 Worldwide Developer’s Conference, Apple revealed a collaboration with OpenAI aimed at integrating ChatGPT with Siri. If Siri thinks a task is better suited for ChatGPT, it can ask the user to allow ChatGPT to assist.
