ChatGPT: “What is it”, “How to Use” and More…
ChatGPT is an advanced AI-powered tool that enables users to engage in lifelike conversations and provides assistance with various tasks, including composing emails, essays, and code. It utilises natural language processing technology to understand and respond to user queries.
Initially introduced for free as part of a research and feedback-gathering initiative, a premium subscription version called ChatGPT Plus became available in February 2023.
GPT means Generative Pre-trained Transformer.
OpenAI, a prominent AI and research organisation, developed ChatGPT, an innovative conversational AI system that was launched on November 30, 2022.
Apart from ChatGPT, OpenAI has made significant contributions to the field of AI, including the creation of DALL-E 2, a widely recognised AI art generator, and Whisper, an advanced automatic speech recognition system.
ChatGPT has garnered significant attention and is considered a game-changer, potentially causing disruptions at the scale of the internet. Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, expressed awe at ChatGPT's capabilities, suggesting that we are approaching the realm of powerful AI.
Shortly after its launch, ChatGPT amassed over one million users within five days, as noted by Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief, on Twitter. Notably, an analysis by Swiss bank UBS reveals that ChatGPT is the fastest-growing application in history.
In a mere two months after its release, it was estimated to have amassed 100 million active users.
To access ChatGPT, all you have to do is visit chat.openai.com and create an OpenAI account. You can also use the URL chat.openai.com/chat, which has been simplified for user convenience.
After signing in, you can start conversing with ChatGPT by asking questions or engaging in dialogue. Since ChatGPT is currently in its research phase, it remains free to use, allowing you to ask unlimited questions.
The usage of ChatGPT is completely free, regardless of the tasks you perform. Alternatively, there is an optional subscription plan available at $20 per month.
You can enjoy additional benefits, such as guaranteed access even during peak times, faster response times, and the ability to use plugins to access information from the internet.
However, the free version still provides substantial capabilities, similar to the subscription version, with the exception of access to the latest version of the large language model (GPT-4) and internet browsing, which are exclusive to the subscription plan.
GPT-4 is OpenAI's latest iteration of its language model system, surpassing the capabilities of its predecessor, GPT-3.5, which powers ChatGPT.
GPT-4 is a multimodal model that accepts both text and image inputs, generating text-based outputs. This enables users to upload worksheets, graphs, and charts for analysis within the model.
Currently, only the text-input capabilities of GPT-4 are available to the public. Access to these functions can be obtained through a ChatGPT Plus subscription for $20 per month or by using Bing Chat.
Microsoft announced that Bing Chat, its free and accessible chatbot, has been operating on GPT-4 since its launch. GPT-4 demonstrates enhanced cognitive capabilities, surpassing GPT-3.5 in simulated benchmark exams and reducing the occurrence of hallucinatory responses.
Absolutely! ChatGPT is designed to engage in conversations, making it suitable for complex tasks like coding or discussing philosophical topics and casual and friendly chats.
You can initiate a conversation with ChatGPT by asking a simple question like “How to plan a birthday party?” or a deeper query, ChatGPT is equipped to provide responses and engage in conversation.
ChatGPT operates on the GPT architecture developed by OpenAI. The GPT used by ChatGPT is derived from the GPT-3.5 series, with the option to access the advanced GPT-4 model through a ChatGPT Plus subscription.
Generative AI models undergo training on vast amounts of internet data, encompassing websites, books, news articles, and more. The language model is fine-tuned through a combination of supervised learning and reinforcement learning.
Notably, ChatGPT employs Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), a unique approach where human AI trainers engage in conversations playing both the user and AI assistant roles, as outlined by OpenAI.
Apart from answering simple queries, ChatGPT can write essays, provide coding assistance, list creation and many more.
‘ChatGPT is at capacity’ means that the server supporting the website is currently overwhelmed by the high number of users attempting to access it, which can lead to delays or difficulties in processing requests.
However, it's important to note that capacity issues do not imply permanent inaccessibility. You can try visiting the site at a later time when the user load is reduced or periodically refresh the page while keeping it open.
If you prefer to bypass potential wait times and ensure reliable access, OpenAI offers a premium subscription called ChatGPT Plus. This subscription, priced at $20 per month, grants users general access even during peak times, faster response times, and priority access to new features and advancements, including OpenAI's most advanced language model, GPT-4.
Alternatively, you may explore Bing Chat, an AI chatbot provided by Bing. Bing Chat is free to use, runs on GPT-4, offers internet access and does not impose any wait times for users.
ChatGPT is a language model designed for interactive conversations with users, while a search engine like Google primarily indexes web pages to help users find specific information.
The free version of ChatGPT lacks internet search capabilities and relies on its training data to generate responses, which can introduce potential errors.
Additionally, ChatGPT's knowledge is limited to information available up until 2021, unlike search engines like Google, which continuously update their databases with the latest information.
However, as a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, you gain access to Bing integration, enabling the chatbot to utilise internet search.
While showcasing impressive capabilities, ChatGPT has its limitations which include difficulties in comprehending specific phrasing or requiring rewording to understand questions accurately.
Moreover, ChatGPT's responses can sometimes lack practical coherence or be excessively verbose, compromising the quality of the information provided.
Critics argue that these language models excel at arranging words statistically but lack true understanding or the ability to validate the accuracy of their statements.
Another limitation is the model's tendency to make guesses instead of seeking clarifications for ambiguous questions, potentially leading to unintended or inaccurate responses.
ChatGPT's knowledge is limited to information available until 2021, rendering it unaware of more recent events or news, and it does not provide sources or citations for its responses.
To address these limitations, ChatGPT has been integrated with Bing as its default search engine. With the Bing plugin, ChatGPT Plus subscribers gain the ability to index the internet and provide citations.
Concerns have been raised regarding ChatGPT, its potential impact on human intelligence, and the spread of misinformation. The efficiency of the chatbot in generating articles and essays within seconds has sparked worries about job displacement for human writers.
Additionally, the ease with which students can use the chatbot to cheat or avoid developing proper writing skills has prompted some educational institutions to block access to it.
Another area of concern is the possibility of misinformation being propagated. As the chatbot operates independently from the internet, there is a risk of inaccuracies in the information it provides.
OpenAI acknowledges that ChatGPT may occasionally generate responses that sound plausible but are incorrect or nonsensical. Both the chatbot itself and OpenAI emphasise the importance of verifying information from reliable sources.
OpenAI has released a free but imperfect "classifier" tool to address this issue. However, it can only accurately identify 26% of AI-written text, with a 9% false positive rate, incorrectly flagging human-written content as AI-generated.
There are other AI detectors available, such as ZeroGPT, GPT-2 Output Detector, and Writer AI Content Detector. While these tools are not fully capable of detecting ChatGPT-generated text, a study suggests that humans might be able to identify AI-written text by observing its extremely polite writing style.
ChatGPT has the potential to be both beneficial and concerning. It can simplify tasks and improve efficiency, but there are technical considerations to address.
AI's impact on the world is still evolving, but progress has been made towards human-like intelligence. It is crucial to find a balance between utilising AI's benefits and ensuring responsible use.
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