chat bot essay writing

ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to hyper-charge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth used by more than 92% of Fortune 500 companies .

That growth has propelled OpenAI itself into becoming one of the most-hyped companies in recent memory. And its latest partnership with Apple for its upcoming generative AI offering, Apple Intelligence, has given the company another significant bump in the AI race.

2024 also saw the release of GPT-4o, OpenAI’s new flagship omni model for ChatGPT. GPT-4o is now the default free model, complete with voice and vision capabilities. But after demoing GPT-4o, OpenAI paused one of its voices , Sky, after allegations that it was mimicking Scarlett Johansson’s voice in “Her.”

OpenAI is facing internal drama, including the sizable exit of co-founder and longtime chief scientist Ilya Sutskever as the company dissolved its Superalignment team. OpenAI is also facing a lawsuit from Alden Global Capital-owned newspapers , including the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, for alleged copyright infringement, following a similar suit filed by The New York Times last year.

Here’s a timeline of ChatGPT product updates and releases, starting with the latest, which we’ve been updating throughout the year. And if you have any other questions, check out our ChatGPT FAQ here.

Timeline of the most recent ChatGPT updates

September 2024, august 2024, february 2024, january 2024.

• ChatGPT FAQs

OpenAI announces OpenAI o1, a new model that can fact-check itself

OpenAI unveiled a preview of OpenAI o1 , also known as “Strawberry.” The collection of models are available in ChatGPT and via OpenAI’s API: o1-preview and o1 mini. The company claims that o1 can more effectively reason through math and science and fact-check itself by spending more time considering all parts of a command or question.

Unlike ChatGPT, o1 can’t browse the web or analyze files yet, is rate-limited and expensive compared to other models. OpenAI says it plans to bring o1-mini access to all free users of ChatGPT, but hasn’t set a release date.

A hacker was able to trick ChatGPT into giving instructions on how to make bombs

An artist and hacker found a way to jailbreak ChatGPT to produce instructions for making powerful explosives, a request that the chatbot normally refuses. An explosives expert who reviewed the chatbot’s output told TechCrunch that the instructions could be used to make a detonatable product and was too sensitive to be released. 

OpenAI reaches 1 million paid users of its corporate offerings

OpenAI announced it has surpassed 1 million paid users for its versions of ChatGPT intended for businesses, including ChatGPT Team, ChatGPT Enterprise and its educational offering, ChatGPT Edu. The company said that nearly half of OpenAI’s corporate users are based in the US.

Volkswagen rolls out its ChatGPT assistant to the US

Volkswagen is taking its ChatGPT voice assistant experiment to vehicles in the United States. Its ChatGPT-integrated Plus Speech voice assistant is an AI chatbot based on Cerence’s Chat Pro product and a LLM from OpenAI and will begin rolling out on September 6 with the 2025 Jetta and Jetta GLI models.

OpenAI inks content deal with Condé Nast

As part of the new deal, OpenAI will surface stories from Condé Nast properties like The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Bon Appétit and Wired in ChatGPT and SearchGPT. Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch implied that the “multi-year” deal will involve payment from OpenAI in some form and a Condé Nast spokesperson told TechCrunch that OpenAI will have permission to train on Condé Nast content.

Our first impressions of ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode

TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff has been playing around with OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode, in what he describes as “the most convincing taste I’ve had of an AI-powered future yet.” Compared to Siri or Alexa, Advanced Voice Mode stands out with faster response times, unique answers and the ability to answer complex questions. But the feature falls short as an effective replacement for virtual assistants.

OpenAI shuts down election influence operation that used ChatGPT

OpenAI has banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts linked to an Iranian influence operation that was generating content about the U.S. presidential election. OpenAI identified five website fronts presenting as both progressive and conservative news outlets that used ChatGPT to draft several long-form articles, though it doesn’t seem that it reached much of an audience.

OpenAI finds that GPT-4o does some weird stuff sometimes

OpenAI has found that GPT-4o, which powers the recently launched alpha of Advanced Voice Mode in ChatGPT, can behave in strange ways. In a new “red teaming” report, OpenAI reveals some of GPT-4o’s weirder quirks, like mimicking the voice of the person speaking to it or randomly shouting in the middle of a conversation.

ChatGPT’s mobile app reports its biggest month yet

After a big jump following the release of OpenAI’s new GPT-4o “omni” model, the mobile version of ChatGPT has now seen its biggest month of revenue yet. The app pulled in $28 million in net revenue from the App Store and Google Play in July, according to data provided by app intelligence firm Appfigures.

OpenAI could potentially catch students who cheat with ChatGPT

OpenAI has built a watermarking tool that could potentially catch students who cheat by using ChatGPT — but The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is debating whether to actually release it. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is researching tools that can detect writing from ChatGPT, but said it’s taking a “deliberate approach” to releasing it.

ChatGPT’s advanced Voice Mode starts rolling out to some users

OpenAI is giving users their first access to GPT-4o’s updated realistic audio responses. The alpha version is now available to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users, and the company says the feature will gradually roll out to all Plus users in the fall of 2024. The release follows controversy surrounding the voice’s similarity to Scarlett Johansson, leading OpenAI to delay its release.

OpenAI announces new search prototype, SearchGPT

OpenAI is testing SearchGPT, a new AI search experience to compete with Google. SearchGPT aims to elevate search queries with “timely answers” from across the internet, as well as the ability to ask follow-up questions. The temporary prototype is currently only available to a small group of users and its publisher partners, like The Atlantic, for testing and feedback.

OpenAI could lose $5 billion this year, report claims

A new report from The Information , based on undisclosed financial information, claims OpenAI could lose up to $5 billion due to how costly the business is to operate. The report also says the company could spend as much as $7 billion in 2024 to train and operate ChatGPT.

OpenAI unveils GPT-4o mini

OpenAI released its latest small AI model, GPT-4o mini . The company says GPT-4o mini, which is cheaper and faster than OpenAI’s current AI models, outperforms industry leading small AI models on reasoning tasks involving text and vision. GPT-4o mini will replace GPT-3.5 Turbo as the smallest model OpenAI offers. 

OpenAI partners with Los Alamos National Laboratory for bioscience research

OpenAI announced a partnership with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to study how AI can be employed by scientists in order to advance research in healthcare and bioscience. This follows other health-related research collaborations at OpenAI, including Moderna and Color Health.

OpenAI makes CriticGPT to find mistakes in GPT-4

OpenAI announced it has trained a model off of GPT-4, dubbed CriticGPT , which aims to find errors in ChatGPT’s code output so they can make improvements and better help so-called human “AI trainers” rate the quality and accuracy of ChatGPT responses.

OpenAI inks content deal with TIME

OpenAI and TIME announced a multi-year strategic partnership that brings the magazine’s content, both modern and archival, to ChatGPT. As part of the deal, TIME will also gain access to OpenAI’s technology in order to develop new audience-based products.

OpenAI delays ChatGPT’s new Voice Mode

OpenAI planned to start rolling out its advanced Voice Mode feature to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users in late June, but it says lingering issues forced it to postpone the launch to July. OpenAI says Advanced Voice Mode might not launch for all ChatGPT Plus customers until the fall, depending on whether it meets certain internal safety and reliability checks.

ChatGPT releases app for Mac

ChatGPT for macOS is now available for all users . With the app, users can quickly call up ChatGPT by using the keyboard combination of Option + Space. The app allows users to upload files and other photos, as well as speak to ChatGPT from their desktop and search through their past conversations.

Apple brings ChatGPT to its apps, including Siri

Apple announced at WWDC 2024 that it is bringing ChatGPT to Siri and other first-party apps and capabilities across its operating systems. The ChatGPT integrations, powered by GPT-4o, will arrive on iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia later this year, and will be free without the need to create a ChatGPT or OpenAI account. Features exclusive to paying ChatGPT users will also be available through Apple devices .

House Oversight subcommittee invites Scarlett Johansson to testify about ‘Sky’ controversy

Scarlett Johansson has been invited to testify about the controversy surrounding OpenAI’s Sky voice at a hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation. In a letter, Rep. Nancy Mace said Johansson’s testimony could “provide a platform” for concerns around deepfakes.

ChatGPT experiences two outages in a single day

ChatGPT was down twice in one day: one multi-hour outage in the early hours of the morning Tuesday and another outage later in the day that is still ongoing. Anthropic’s Claude and Perplexity also experienced some issues.

The Atlantic and Vox Media ink content deals with OpenAI

The Atlantic and Vox Media have announced licensing and product partnerships with OpenAI . Both agreements allow OpenAI to use the publishers’ current content to generate responses in ChatGPT, which will feature citations to relevant articles. Vox Media says it will use OpenAI’s technology to build “audience-facing and internal applications,” while The Atlantic will build a new experimental product called Atlantic Labs .

OpenAI signs 100K PwC workers to ChatGPT’s enterprise tier

OpenAI announced a new deal with management consulting giant PwC . The company will become OpenAI’s biggest customer to date, covering 100,000 users, and will become OpenAI’s first partner for selling its enterprise offerings to other businesses.

OpenAI says it is training its GPT-4 successor

OpenAI announced in a blog post that it has recently begun training its next flagship model to succeed GPT-4. The news came in an announcement of its new safety and security committee, which is responsible for informing safety and security decisions across OpenAI’s products.

Former OpenAI director claims the board found out about ChatGPT on Twitter

On the The TED AI Show podcast, former OpenAI board member Helen Toner revealed that the board did not know about ChatGPT until its launch in November 2022. Toner also said that Sam Altman gave the board inaccurate information about the safety processes the company had in place and that he didn’t disclose his involvement in the OpenAI Startup Fund.

ChatGPT’s mobile app revenue saw biggest spike yet following GPT-4o launch

The launch of GPT-4o has driven the company’s biggest-ever spike in revenue on mobile , despite the model being freely available on the web. Mobile users are being pushed to upgrade to its $19.99 monthly subscription, ChatGPT Plus, if they want to experiment with OpenAI’s most recent launch.

OpenAI to remove ChatGPT’s Scarlett Johansson-like voice

After demoing its new GPT-4o model last week, OpenAI announced it is pausing one of its voices , Sky, after users found that it sounded similar to Scarlett Johansson in “Her.”

OpenAI explained in a blog post that Sky’s voice is “not an imitation” of the actress and that AI voices should not intentionally mimic the voice of a celebrity. The blog post went on to explain how the company chose its voices: Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper and Sky.

ChatGPT lets you add files from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive

OpenAI announced new updates for easier data analysis within ChatGPT . Users can now upload files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, interact with tables and charts, and export customized charts for presentations. The company says these improvements will be added to GPT-4o in the coming weeks.

OpenAI inks deal to train AI on Reddit data

OpenAI announced a partnership with Reddit that will give the company access to “real-time, structured and unique content” from the social network. Content from Reddit will be incorporated into ChatGPT, and the companies will work together to bring new AI-powered features to Reddit users and moderators.

OpenAI debuts GPT-4o “omni” model now powering ChatGPT

OpenAI’s spring update event saw the reveal of its new omni model, GPT-4o, which has a black hole-like interface , as well as voice and vision capabilities that feel eerily like something out of “Her.” GPT-4o is set to roll out “iteratively” across its developer and consumer-facing products over the next few weeks.

OpenAI to build a tool that lets content creators opt out of AI training

The company announced it’s building a tool, Media Manager, that will allow creators to better control how their content is being used to train generative AI models — and give them an option to opt out. The goal is to have the new tool in place and ready to use by 2025.

OpenAI explores allowing AI porn

In a new peek behind the curtain of its AI’s secret instructions , OpenAI also released a new NSFW policy . Though it’s intended to start a conversation about how it might allow explicit images and text in its AI products, it raises questions about whether OpenAI — or any generative AI vendor — can be trusted to handle sensitive content ethically.

OpenAI and Stack Overflow announce partnership

In a new partnership, OpenAI will get access to developer platform Stack Overflow’s API and will get feedback from developers to improve the performance of their AI models. In return, OpenAI will include attributions to Stack Overflow in ChatGPT. However, the deal was not favorable to some Stack Overflow users — leading to some sabotaging their answer in protest .

U.S. newspapers file copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft

Alden Global Capital-owned newspapers, including the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and the Denver Post, are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges that the companies stole millions of copyrighted articles “without permission and without payment” to bolster ChatGPT and Copilot.

OpenAI inks content licensing deal with Financial Times

OpenAI has partnered with another news publisher in Europe, London’s Financial Times , that the company will be paying for content access. “Through the partnership, ChatGPT users will be able to see select attributed summaries, quotes and rich links to FT journalism in response to relevant queries,” the FT wrote in a press release.

OpenAI opens Tokyo hub, adds GPT-4 model optimized for Japanese

OpenAI is opening a new office in Tokyo and has plans for a GPT-4 model optimized specifically for the Japanese language. The move underscores how OpenAI will likely need to localize its technology to different languages as it expands.

Sam Altman pitches ChatGPT Enterprise to Fortune 500 companies

According to Reuters, OpenAI’s Sam Altman hosted hundreds of executives from Fortune 500 companies across several cities in April, pitching versions of its AI services intended for corporate use.

OpenAI releases “more direct, less verbose” version of GPT-4 Turbo

Premium ChatGPT users — customers paying for ChatGPT Plus, Team or Enterprise — can now use an updated and enhanced version of GPT-4 Turbo . The new model brings with it improvements in writing, math, logical reasoning and coding, OpenAI claims, as well as a more up-to-date knowledge base.

ChatGPT no longer requires an account — but there’s a catch

You can now use ChatGPT without signing up for an account , but it won’t be quite the same experience. You won’t be able to save or share chats, use custom instructions, or other features associated with a persistent account. This version of ChatGPT will have “slightly more restrictive content policies,” according to OpenAI. When TechCrunch asked for more details, however, the response was unclear:

“The signed out experience will benefit from the existing safety mitigations that are already built into the model, such as refusing to generate harmful content. In addition to these existing mitigations, we are also implementing additional safeguards specifically designed to address other forms of content that may be inappropriate for a signed out experience,” a spokesperson said.

OpenAI’s chatbot store is filling up with spam

TechCrunch found that the OpenAI’s GPT Store is flooded with bizarre, potentially copyright-infringing GPTs . A cursory search pulls up GPTs that claim to generate art in the style of Disney and Marvel properties, but serve as little more than funnels to third-party paid services and advertise themselves as being able to bypass AI content detection tools.

The New York Times responds to OpenAI’s claims that it “hacked” ChatGPT for its copyright lawsuit

In a court filing opposing OpenAI’s motion to dismiss The New York Times’ lawsuit alleging copyright infringement, the newspaper asserted that “OpenAI’s attention-grabbing claim that The Times ‘hacked’ its products is as irrelevant as it is false.” The New York Times also claimed that some users of ChatGPT used the tool to bypass its paywalls.

OpenAI VP doesn’t say whether artists should be paid for training data

At a SXSW 2024 panel, Peter Deng, OpenAI’s VP of consumer product dodged a question on whether artists whose work was used to train generative AI models should be compensated . While OpenAI lets artists “opt out” of and remove their work from the datasets that the company uses to train its image-generating models, some artists have described the tool as onerous.

A new report estimates that ChatGPT uses more than half a million kilowatt-hours of electricity per day

ChatGPT’s environmental impact appears to be massive. According to a report from The New Yorker , ChatGPT uses an estimated 17,000 times the amount of electricity than the average U.S. household to respond to roughly 200 million requests each day.

ChatGPT can now read its answers aloud

OpenAI released a new Read Aloud feature for the web version of ChatGPT as well as the iOS and Android apps. The feature allows ChatGPT to read its responses to queries in one of five voice options and can speak 37 languages, according to the company. Read aloud is available on both GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 models.

https://twitter.com/openai/status/1764712432939995549

OpenAI partners with Dublin City Council to use GPT-4 for tourism

As part of a new partnership with OpenAI, the Dublin City Council will use GPT-4 to craft personalized itineraries for travelers, including recommendations of unique and cultural destinations, in an effort to support tourism across Europe.

A law firm used ChatGPT to justify a six-figure bill for legal services

New York-based law firm Cuddy Law was criticized by a judge for using ChatGPT to calculate their hourly billing rate . The firm submitted a $113,500 bill to the court, which was then halved by District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who called the figure “well above” reasonable demands.

ChatGPT experienced a bizarre bug for several hours

ChatGPT users found that ChatGPT was giving nonsensical answers for several hours , prompting OpenAI to investigate the issue. Incidents varied from repetitive phrases to confusing and incorrect answers to queries. The issue was resolved by OpenAI the following morning.

Match Group announced deal with OpenAI with a press release co-written by ChatGPT

The dating app giant home to Tinder, Match and OkCupid announced an enterprise agreement with OpenAI in an enthusiastic press release written with the help of ChatGPT . The AI tech will be used to help employees with work-related tasks and come as part of Match’s $20 million-plus bet on AI in 2024.

ChatGPT will now remember — and forget — things you tell it to

As part of a test, OpenAI began rolling out new “memory” controls for a small portion of ChatGPT free and paid users, with a broader rollout to follow. The controls let you tell ChatGPT explicitly to remember something, see what it remembers or turn off its memory altogether. Note that deleting a chat from chat history won’t erase ChatGPT’s or a custom GPT’s memories — you must delete the memory itself.

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1757469997742666052

OpenAI begins rolling out “Temporary Chat” feature

Initially limited to a small subset of free and subscription users, Temporary Chat lets you have a dialogue with a blank slate. With Temporary Chat, ChatGPT won’t be aware of previous conversations or access memories but will follow custom instructions if they’re enabled.

But, OpenAI says it may keep a copy of Temporary Chat conversations for up to 30 days for “safety reasons.”

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1757470007381082382

ChatGPT users can now invoke GPTs directly in chats

Paid users of ChatGPT can now bring GPTs into a conversation by typing “@” and selecting a GPT from the list. The chosen GPT will have an understanding of the full conversation, and different GPTs can be “tagged in” for different use cases and needs.

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1752391522081980855

ChatGPT is reportedly leaking usernames and passwords from users’ private conversations

Screenshots provided to Ars Technica found that ChatGPT is potentially leaking unpublished research papers, login credentials and private information from its users. An OpenAI representative told Ars Technica that the company was investigating the report.

ChatGPT is violating Europe’s privacy laws, Italian DPA tells OpenAI

OpenAI has been told it’s suspected of violating European Union privacy , following a multi-month investigation of ChatGPT by Italy’s data protection authority. Details of the draft findings haven’t been disclosed, but in a response, OpenAI said: “We want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals.”

OpenAI partners with Common Sense Media to collaborate on AI guidelines

In an effort to win the trust of parents and policymakers, OpenAI announced it’s partnering with Common Sense Media to collaborate on AI guidelines and education materials for parents, educators and young adults. The organization works to identify and minimize tech harms to young people and previously flagged ChatGPT as lacking in transparency and privacy .

OpenAI responds to Congressional Black Caucus about lack of diversity on its board

After a letter from the Congressional Black Caucus questioned the lack of diversity in OpenAI’s board, the company responded . The response, signed by CEO Sam Altman and Chairman of the Board Bret Taylor, said building a complete and diverse board was one of the company’s top priorities and that it was working with an executive search firm to assist it in finding talent. 

OpenAI drops prices and fixes ‘lazy’ GPT-4 that refused to work

In a blog post , OpenAI announced price drops for GPT-3.5’s API, with input prices dropping to 50% and output by 25%, to $0.0005 per thousand tokens in, and $0.0015 per thousand tokens out. GPT-4 Turbo also got a new preview model for API use, which includes an interesting fix that aims to reduce “laziness” that users have experienced.

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1750636119321120942

OpenAI bans developer of a bot impersonating a presidential candidate

OpenAI has suspended AI startup Delphi, which developed a bot impersonating Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) to help bolster his presidential campaign. The ban comes just weeks after OpenAI published a plan to combat election misinformation, which listed “chatbots impersonating candidates” as against its policy.

OpenAI announces partnership with Arizona State University

Beginning in February, Arizona State University will have full access to ChatGPT’s Enterprise tier , which the university plans to use to build a personalized AI tutor, develop AI avatars, bolster their prompt engineering course and more. It marks OpenAI’s first partnership with a higher education institution.

Winner of a literary prize reveals around 5% her novel was written by ChatGPT

After receiving the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for her novel The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy, author Rie Kudan admitted that around 5% of the book quoted ChatGPT-generated sentences “verbatim.” Interestingly enough, the novel revolves around a futuristic world with a pervasive presence of AI.

Sam Altman teases video capabilities for ChatGPT and the release of GPT-5

In a conversation with Bill Gates on the Unconfuse Me podcast, Sam Altman confirmed an upcoming release of GPT-5 that will be “fully multimodal with speech, image, code, and video support.” Altman said users can expect to see GPT-5 drop sometime in 2024.

OpenAI announces team to build ‘crowdsourced’ governance ideas into its models

OpenAI is forming a Collective Alignment team of researchers and engineers to create a system for collecting and “encoding” public input on its models’ behaviors into OpenAI products and services. This comes as a part of OpenAI’s public program to award grants to fund experiments in setting up a “democratic process” for determining the rules AI systems follow.

OpenAI unveils plan to combat election misinformation

In a blog post, OpenAI announced users will not be allowed to build applications for political campaigning and lobbying until the company works out how effective their tools are for “personalized persuasion.”

Users will also be banned from creating chatbots that impersonate candidates or government institutions, and from using OpenAI tools to misrepresent the voting process or otherwise discourage voting.

The company is also testing out a tool that detects DALL-E generated images and will incorporate access to real-time news, with attribution, in ChatGPT.

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1746986660892741927

OpenAI changes policy to allow military applications

In an unannounced update to its usage policy , OpenAI removed language previously prohibiting the use of its products for the purposes of “military and warfare.” In an additional statement, OpenAI confirmed that the language was changed in order to accommodate military customers and projects that do not violate their ban on efforts to use their tools to “harm people, develop weapons, for communications surveillance, or to injure others or destroy property.”

ChatGPT subscription aimed at small teams debuts

Aptly called ChatGPT Team , the new plan provides a dedicated workspace for teams of up to 149 people using ChatGPT as well as admin tools for team management. In addition to gaining access to GPT-4, GPT-4 with Vision and DALL-E3, ChatGPT Team lets teams build and share GPTs for their business needs.

OpenAI’s GPT store officially launches

After some back and forth over the last few months, OpenAI’s GPT Store is finally here . The feature lives in a new tab in the ChatGPT web client, and includes a range of GPTs developed both by OpenAI’s partners and the wider dev community.

To access the GPT Store, users must be subscribed to one of OpenAI’s premium ChatGPT plans — ChatGPT Plus, ChatGPT Enterprise or the newly launched ChatGPT Team.

https://twitter.com/sama/status/1745135061731803571?s=20

Developing AI models would be “impossible” without copyrighted materials, OpenAI claims

Following a proposed ban on using news publications and books to train AI chatbots in the U.K., OpenAI submitted a plea to the House of Lords communications and digital committee. OpenAI argued that it would be “impossible” to train AI models without using copyrighted materials, and that they believe copyright law “does not forbid training.”

OpenAI claims The New York Times’ copyright lawsuit is without merit

OpenAI published a public response to The New York Times’s lawsuit against them and Microsoft for allegedly violating copyright law, claiming that the case is without merit.

In the response , OpenAI reiterates its view that training AI models using publicly available data from the web is fair use. It also makes the case that regurgitation is less likely to occur with training data from a single source and places the onus on users to “act responsibly.”

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1744419710635229424?s=20

OpenAI’s app store for GPTs planned to launch next week

After being delayed in December , OpenAI plans to launch its GPT Store sometime in the coming week, according to an email viewed by TechCrunch. OpenAI says developers building GPTs will have to review the company’s updated usage policies and GPT brand guidelines to ensure their GPTs are compliant before they’re eligible for listing in the GPT Store. OpenAI’s update notably didn’t include any information on the expected monetization opportunities for developers listing their apps on the storefront.

https://twitter.com/refsrc/status/1742970484256366629

OpenAI moves to shrink regulatory risk in EU around data privacy

In an email, OpenAI detailed an incoming update to its terms, including changing the OpenAI entity providing services to EEA and Swiss residents to OpenAI Ireland Limited. The move appears to be intended to shrink its regulatory risk in the European Union, where the company has been under scrutiny over ChatGPT’s impact on people’s privacy.

What is ChatGPT? How does it work?

ChatGPT is a general-purpose chatbot that uses artificial intelligence to generate text after a user enters a prompt, developed by tech startup OpenAI . The chatbot uses GPT-4, a large language model that uses deep learning to produce human-like text.

When did ChatGPT get released?

November 30, 2022 is when ChatGPT was released for public use.

What is the latest version of ChatGPT?

Both the free version of ChatGPT and the paid ChatGPT Plus are regularly updated with new GPT models. The most recent model is GPT-4o .

Can I use ChatGPT for free?

There is a free version of ChatGPT that only requires a sign-in in addition to the paid version, ChatGPT Plus .

Who uses ChatGPT?

Anyone can use ChatGPT! More and more tech companies and search engines are utilizing the chatbot to automate text or quickly answer user questions/concerns.

What companies use ChatGPT?

Multiple enterprises utilize ChatGPT, although others may limit the use of the AI-powered tool .

Most recently, Microsoft announced at it’s 2023 Build conference that it is integrating it ChatGPT-based Bing experience into Windows 11. A Brooklyn-based 3D display startup Looking Glass utilizes ChatGPT to produce holograms you can communicate with by using ChatGPT.  And nonprofit organization Solana officially integrated the chatbot into its network with a ChatGPT plug-in geared toward end users to help onboard into the web3 space.

What does GPT mean in ChatGPT?

GPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer.

What is the difference between ChatGPT and a chatbot?

A chatbot can be any software/system that holds dialogue with you/a person but doesn’t necessarily have to be AI-powered. For example, there are chatbots that are rules-based in the sense that they’ll give canned responses to questions.

ChatGPT is AI-powered and utilizes LLM technology to generate text after a prompt.

Can ChatGPT write essays?

Can chatgpt commit libel.

Due to the nature of how these models work , they don’t know or care whether something is true, only that it looks true. That’s a problem when you’re using it to do your homework, sure, but when it accuses you of a crime you didn’t commit, that may well at this point be libel.

We will see how handling troubling statements produced by ChatGPT will play out over the next few months as tech and legal experts attempt to tackle the fastest moving target in the industry.

Does ChatGPT have an app?

Yes, there is a free ChatGPT mobile app for iOS and Android users.

What is the ChatGPT character limit?

It’s not documented anywhere that ChatGPT has a character limit. However, users have noted that there are some character limitations after around 500 words.

Does ChatGPT have an API?

Yes, it was released March 1, 2023.

What are some sample everyday uses for ChatGPT?

Everyday examples include programing, scripts, email replies, listicles, blog ideas, summarization, etc.

What are some advanced uses for ChatGPT?

Advanced use examples include debugging code, programming languages, scientific concepts, complex problem solving, etc.

How good is ChatGPT at writing code?

It depends on the nature of the program. While ChatGPT can write workable Python code, it can’t necessarily program an entire app’s worth of code. That’s because ChatGPT lacks context awareness — in other words, the generated code isn’t always appropriate for the specific context in which it’s being used.

Can you save a ChatGPT chat?

Yes. OpenAI allows users to save chats in the ChatGPT interface, stored in the sidebar of the screen. There are no built-in sharing features yet.

Are there alternatives to ChatGPT?

Yes. There are multiple AI-powered chatbot competitors such as Together , Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude , and developers are creating open source alternatives .

How does ChatGPT handle data privacy?

OpenAI has said that individuals in “certain jurisdictions” (such as the EU) can object to the processing of their personal information by its AI models by filling out  this form . This includes the ability to make requests for deletion of AI-generated references about you. Although OpenAI notes it may not grant every request since it must balance privacy requests against freedom of expression “in accordance with applicable laws”.

The web form for making a deletion of data about you request is entitled “ OpenAI Personal Data Removal Request ”.

In its privacy policy, the ChatGPT maker makes a passing acknowledgement of the objection requirements attached to relying on “legitimate interest” (LI), pointing users towards more information about requesting an opt out — when it writes: “See here  for instructions on how you can opt out of our use of your information to train our models.”

What controversies have surrounded ChatGPT?

Recently, Discord announced that it had integrated OpenAI’s technology into its bot named Clyde where two users tricked Clyde into providing them with instructions for making the illegal drug methamphetamine (meth) and the incendiary mixture napalm.

An Australian mayor has publicly announced he may sue OpenAI for defamation due to ChatGPT’s false claims that he had served time in prison for bribery. This would be the first defamation lawsuit against the text-generating service.

CNET found itself in the midst of controversy after Futurism reported the publication was publishing articles under a mysterious byline completely generated by AI. The private equity company that owns CNET, Red Ventures, was accused of using ChatGPT for SEO farming, even if the information was incorrect.

Several major school systems and colleges, including New York City Public Schools , have banned ChatGPT from their networks and devices. They claim that the AI impedes the learning process by promoting plagiarism and misinformation, a claim that not every educator agrees with .

There have also been cases of ChatGPT accusing individuals of false crimes .

Where can I find examples of ChatGPT prompts?

Several marketplaces host and provide ChatGPT prompts, either for free or for a nominal fee. One is PromptBase . Another is ChatX . More launch every day.

Can ChatGPT be detected?

Poorly. Several tools claim to detect ChatGPT-generated text, but in our tests , they’re inconsistent at best.

Are ChatGPT chats public?

No. But OpenAI recently disclosed a bug, since fixed, that exposed the titles of some users’ conversations to other people on the service.

What lawsuits are there surrounding ChatGPT?

None specifically targeting ChatGPT. But OpenAI is involved in at least one lawsuit that has implications for AI systems trained on publicly available data, which would touch on ChatGPT.

Are there issues regarding plagiarism with ChatGPT?

Yes. Text-generating AI models like ChatGPT have a tendency to regurgitate content from their training data.

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• Published: 28 October 2023

ChatGPT-3.5 as writing assistance in students’ essays

• Željana Bašić 1 ,
• Ana Banovac 1 ,
• Ivana Kružić 1 &
• Ivan Jerković 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  750 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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ChatGPT-3.5, an AI language model capable of text generation, translation, summarization, and question-answering, has recently been released for public use. Studies have shown it can generate abstracts, research papers, and dissertations, and create quality essays on different topics. This led to ethical issues in using ChatGPT in academic writing, AI authorship, and evaluating students’ essays. However, it is still unknown how ChatGPT performs in students’ environments as a writing assistant tool and if it enhances students’ essay-writing performance. In the present study, we examined students’ essay-writing performances with or without ChatGPT as an essay-writing assistance tool. The average essay grade was C for both control (traditional essay-writing, n  = 9) and experimental (ChatGPT-assisted essay-writing, n  = 9) groups. None of the predictors affected essay scores: group, writing duration, study module, and GPA. The text unauthenticity was slightly higher in the experimental group, but the similarity among essays was generally low in the overall sample. In the experimental group, the AI classifier recognized more potential AI-generated texts. Our results demonstrate that the ChatGPT group did not perform better in either of the indicators; the students did not deliver higher quality content, did not write faster, nor had a higher degree of authentic text. We anticipate that these results can relieve some concerns about this tool’s usage in academic writing. ChatGPT-assisted writing could depend on the previous knowledge and skills of the user, which might, in certain instances, lead to confusion in inexperienced users and result in poorer essay writing performance.

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November 30, 2022, will go down in history as the date when a free version of the AI language model created by OpenAI called ChatGPT-3.5 (OpenAI, 2022 ) (in further text ChatGPT) was made available for public usage. This language model’s functions encompass text generation, answering questions, and completing tasks such as translation and summarization (Agomuoh, 2023 ).

ChatGPT can be employed as assistance in the world of academia. It can improve writing skills since it is trained to deliver feedback on style, coherence, and grammar (Aljanabi et al., 2023 ), extract key points, and provide citations (Aydin and Karaarslan, 2022 ). This could increase the efficiency of researchers, allowing them to concentrate on more crucial activities (e.g., analysis and interpretation). This has been supported by studies showing that ChatGPT could generate abstracts (Gao et al., 2023 ; Ma et al., 2023 ), high-quality research papers (Kung et al., 2023 ), dissertations, and essays (Aljanabi et al., 2023 ). Previous studies showed that ChatGPT could create quality essays on different topics (Hoang, 2023 ; Hoang et al., 2023 ; Nguyen and La; 2023 ; Nguyen and Le, 2023a , Nguyen and Le, 2023b , Susnjak, 2023 ). For example, this program, in conjunction with DaVinci-003, generated high-quality short-form essays on Physics, which would be awarded First Class, the highest grade in the UK higher education system (Yeadon et al., 2023 ). It also led to questions on the ethics of using ChatGPT in different forms of academic writing, the AI authorship (Bishop, 2023 ; Grimaldi and Ehrler, 2023 ; Kung et al., 2023 ; Pourhoseingholi et al., 2023 ; Xiao, 2023 ), and raised issues of evaluating academic tasks like students’ essays (Stokel-Walker, 2022 ; Whitford, 2022 ). Unavoidable content plagiarism issues were discussed, and solutions for adapting essay settings and guidelines were revised (Cotton et al., 2023 ; Hoang, 2023 ; Lo, 2023 ; Sallam, 2023 ; Stokel-Walker, 2022 ; Yeadon et al., 2023 ). A recent SWOT analysis of ChatGPT’s impact on education comprehensively analyzed all the mentioned issues. Strengths included advanced natural language generation, self-improvement, and personalized feedback, with potential benefits in information accessibility, personalized learning, and reduced teaching workload. Weaknesses encompassed limited understanding of the topic, inability to critically evaluate information, response quality evaluation challenges, bias risks, and a lack of higher-order thinking. Threats included contextual limitations, academic integrity risks, discrimination perpetuation, increased plagiarism, etc. (Farrokhnia et al., 2023 ).

As argumentative essays are one of the most advanced students’ tasks in higher education, and as such pose a challenge for students (Latifi et al., 2021 ), one of the ways where ChatGPT could be tested is essay writing. Such essays empower students’ ability to give an argument and build confidence in their knowledge preparing them not only for the academic environment but also for real-life situations (Valero Haro et al., 2022 ; Heitmann et al., 2014 ). A previous study showed that students need further development of argumentation competencies, as they demonstrated externalization issues with argumentation that did not differ if they worked in groups or individually. The results suggest that students experience problems in externalizing their argumentation knowledge both at the individual (argumentative essay) and collaborative levels (argumentative discourse), and that they need to further develop their argumentation competence (Banihashem et al., 2023a ; Banihashem et al., 2023b ; Kerman et al., 2023 ; Ranjbaran et al., 2023 ). However, it is still unknown how ChatGPT performs in students’ environment as a writing assistant tool and does it enhance students’ performance. Thus, this research investigated whether ChatGPT would improve students’ essay grades, reduce writing time, and affect text authenticity.

Materials and methods

We invited the second-year master’s students from the University Department of Forensic Sciences, to voluntarily participate in research on essay writing as a part of the course Forensic Sciences seminar. Out of 50 students enrolled in the course, 18 applied by web form and participated in the study. Before the experiment, we divided them into two groups according to the study module and the weighted grade point average (GPA) to ensure a similar composition of the groups. The control group ( n  = 9, GPA = 3.92 ± 0.46) wrote the essay traditionally, while the experimental group ( n  = 9, GPA = 3.92 ± 0.57) used ChatGPT assistance, version 2.1.0. (OpenAI, 2022 ).

We explained the essay scoring methodology (Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence ( 2023 )) to both groups, with written instructions about the essay title (The advantages and disadvantages of biometric identification in forensic sciences), length of the essay (800–1000 words in a Croatian language), formatting, and citation style (Vancouver). We introduced the experimental group to the ChatGPT tool which included a brief explanation of the tool, and an example of entering the prompt about their essay-unrelated issue. They were instructed to use the tool freely, without any limitations (e.g., for creating a complete essay, for concept drafting, for specific topic-related questions, for corrections and suggestions, etc.). We did not demand students to submit the prompts they used and the responses they received. All students had four hours to finish the task and could leave whenever they wanted. The control group was additionally supervised to ensure they did not use the ChatGPT. The students’ names were coded to assure the individual and group anonymity and prevent grading bias.

Two teachers graded the essays (ŽB, associate professor, and IJ, assistant professor). The teachers compared the grades, and if their scoring differed the final grade was decided by the consensus. We used the essay rubrics from the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Pennsylvania State University ( http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/pdf/suanne_general_resource_WritingRubric.pdf ), that included the following criteria (mechanics, style, content, and format) and grades from A to D (Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence ( 2023 )). We converted categorical grades to numbers (A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1) for further analysis. For each student, we recorded writing time.

We checked the authenticity of each document using PlagScan ( 2022 ), and conducted the pairwise comparison for document similarity using R studio (ver. 1.2.5033) and package Textreuse (Mullen, 2015 ) using the Jaccard similarity index. We checked the content using an AI text classifier to test if a human or an AI created the text. According to this classifier, text was scored as very unlikely, unlikely, unclear, possibly, and likely that it was AI-generated (OpenAI, 2023 ). We opted for this package after similar programs (OpenAI, 2022 ; Goal and ChatGPT, 2023 ; Debut et al., 2023 ) did not recognize a ChatGPT-generated text in a non-English language as AI-assisted text.

Statistical analysis and visualization were conducted using Excel (Microsoft Office ver. 2301) and R Studio (ver. 1.2.5033). The final essay score was calculated as an average of four grading elements (mechanics, style, content, and format). The linear regression was used to test the effects of group, writing duration, module, and GPA on overall essay scores. The level of statistical significance was set at P  ≤ 0.05.

The duration of the essay writing for the ChatGPT-assisted group was 172.22 ± 31.59, and for the control, 179.11 ± 31.93 min. ChatGPT and control group, on average, obtained grade C, with a slightly higher average score in the control (2.39 ± 0.71) than in the ChatGPT group (2.00 ± 0.73) (Fig. 1A ). The mean of text unauthenticity was 11.87% ± 13.45 in the ChatGPT-assisted group and 9.96% ± 9.81% in the control group. The text similarity in the overall sample was low (Supplementary Table 1 ), with a median value of the Jaccard similarity index of 0.002 (0–0.054). The AI text classifier showed that, in the control group, two texts were possibly, one likely generated by AI, two were unlikely created by AI, and four cases were unclear. The ChatGPT group had three possible and five cases likely produced by AI, while one case was labeled as unclear.

A Average essay scores, B Duration and essay scores, C GPA and essay scores, D Text authenticity and essay scores.

Figure 1B, C implies a positive association between duration and GPA with essay scores. Students with higher GPAs in the control group achieved higher scores than those in the ChatGPT group. The association of essay scores and non-authentic text proportion (Fig. 1D ) was detected only in the ChatGPT group, where the students with more non-authentic text achieved lower essay scores.

The linear regression model showed a moderate positive relationship between the four predictors and the overall essay score ( R  = 0.573; P  = 0.237). However, none of the predictors had a significant effect on the outcome: group ( P  = 0.184), writing duration ( P  = 0.669), module ( P  = 0.388), and GPA ( P  = 0.532).

As we are aware, this is the first study that tested ChatGPT-3.5 as an essay-writing assistance tool in a student population sample. Our study showed that the ChatGPT group did not perform better than the control group in either of the indicators; the students did not deliver higher quality content, did not write faster, nor had a higher degree of authentic text.

The overall essay score was slightly better in the control group, which could probably result from the students in the experimental group over-reliance on the tool or being unfamiliar with it. This was in line with Fyfe’s study on writing students’ essays using ChatGPT-2, where students reported that it was harder to write using the tool than by themselves (Fyfe, 2022 ). This issue is presented in the study of Farrokhnia et al., where the authors pointed out the ChatGPT weakness of not having a deep understanding of the topic, which, in conjunction with students’ lack of knowledge, could lead to dubious results (Farrokhnia et al., 2023 ). Students also raised the question of not knowing the sources of generated text which additionally distracted them in writing task (Fyfe, 2022 ). It is noteworthy that both groups obtained an average grade of C, which can be explained by other studies that argued that students’ writing lacks solid argumentation both when writing in general or when writing argumentative essays (Banihashem et al., 2023a ; Banihashem et al., 2023b ; Kerman et al., 2023 ; Farrokhnia et al., 2023 ; Ranjbaran et al., 2023 ). This demanding task could have been even more difficult when using ChatGPT, which could stem from several already mentioned issues like unfamiliarity when using ChatGPT and additional time requirements to link ChatGPT-created content and/or information with real literature sources.

Some studies did show more promising results (Hoang, 2023 ; Hoang et al., 2023 ; Nguyen and La; 2023 ; Nguyen and Le, 2023a , Nguyen and Le, 2023b , Susnjak, 2023 ; Yeadon et al., 2023 ), but unlike our study, they were mainly based on ChatGPT and experienced researcher interaction. This could be a reason for the lower performance of our ChatGPT group, as the experienced researchers are more skilled in formulating questions, guiding the program to obtain better-quality information, and critically evaluating the content.

The other interesting finding is that the use of ChatGPT did not accelerate essay writing and that the students of both groups required a similar amount of time to complete the task. As expected, the longer writing time in both groups related to the better essay score. This finding could also be explained by students’ feedback from Fyfe’s ( 2022 ) study, where they specifically reported difficulties combining the generated text and their style. So, although ChatGPT could accelerate writing in the first phase, it requires more time to finalize the task and assemble content.

Our experimental group had slightly more problems with plagiarism than the control group. Fyfe ( 2022 ) also showed that his students felt uncomfortable writing and submitting the task since they felt they were cheating and plagiarizing. However, a pairwise comparison of essays in our study did not reveal remarkable similarities, indicating that students had different reasoning and styles, regardless of whether they were using ChatGPT. This could also imply that applying the tool for writing assistance produces different outcomes for the same task, depending on the user’s input (Yeadon et al., 2023 ).

The available ChatGPT text detector (Farrokhnia et al., 2023 ) did not perform well, giving false positive results in the control group. Most classifiers are intended for English and usually have disclaimers for performance in other languages. This raises the necessity of improving existing algorithms for different languages or developing language-specific ones.

The main concern of using ChatGPT in academic writing has been the unauthenticity (Cotton et al., 2023 ; Susnjak, 2023 ; Yeadon et al., 2023 ), but we believe that such tools will not increase the non-originality of the published content or students’ assignments. The detectors of AI-generated text are developing daily, and it is only a matter of time before highly reliable tools are available. While our findings suggest no immediate need for significant concern regarding the application of ChatGPT in students’ writing, it is crucial to acknowledge that this study’s design reflects real-life situations of using ChatGPT as a convenient and rapid solution to submit assignments, potentially at the expense of the overall quality of their work. This issue remains an important consideration when assessing the broader implications of our study.

The main drawback of this study is the limited sample size (9 per group) which does not permit the generalization of the findings or a more comprehensive statistical approach. One of the limitations could also be language-specificity (students wrote in native, non-English language for their convenience), which disabled us from the full application of AI detection tools. We should also consider that ChatGPT is predominantly fed with English content, so we cannot exclude the possibility that writing in English could have generated higher-quality information. Lastly, this was our students’ first interaction with ChatGPT, so it is possible that lack of experience as well as inadequate training in using AI language models also affected their performance. Therefore, it is crucial to exercise caution when generalizing these findings, as they may not necessarily reflect the experiences of a broader range of ChatGPT users, who often report rapid draft generation. Future studies should therefore expand the sample size, number, and conditions of experiments, include students of different profiles, and extend the number of variables that could generally relate to writing skills. Also, it would be useful to conduct a study that would analyze the quality and depth of the students’ prompts to ChatGPT, as it seems that the question type and the feedback provided by the user could remarkably affect the final result (Farrokhnia et al., 2023 ).

However, the academia and media concern about this tool might be unjustified, as, in our example, the ChatGPT was found to perform similarly to any web-based search: the more you know—the more you will find. In some ways, instead of providing structure and facilitating writing, it could distract students and make them underperform.

Data availability

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

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Bašić, Ž., Banovac, A., Kružić, I. et al. ChatGPT-3.5 as writing assistance in students’ essays. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 750 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02269-7

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5 Ways ChatGPT Can Improve, Not Replace, Your Writing

It's been quite a year for ChatGPT, with the large language model (LLM) now taking exams, churning out content , searching the web, writing code, and more. The AI chatbot can produce its own stories , though whether they're any good is another matter.

If you're in any way involved in the business of writing, then tools like ChatGPT have the potential to complete up-end the way you work—but at this stage, it's not inevitable that journalists, authors, and copywriters will be replaced by generative AI bots.

What we can say with certainty is that ChatGPT is a reliable writing assistant, provided you use it in the right way. If you have to put words in order as part of your job, here's how ChatGPT might be able to take your writing to the next level—at least until it replaces you, anyway.

Using a thesaurus as a writer isn't particularly frowned on; using ChatGPT to come up with the right word or phrase shouldn’t be either. You can use the bot to look for variations on a particular word, or get even more specific and say you want alternatives that are less or more formal, longer or shorter, and so on.

Where ChatGPT really comes in handy is when you're reaching for a word and you're not even sure it exists: Ask about "a word that means a sense of melancholy but in particular one that comes and goes and doesn't seem to have a single cause" and you'll get back "ennui" as a suggestion (or at least we did).

If you have characters talking, you might even ask about words or phrases that would typically be said by someone from a particular region, of a particular age, or with particular character traits. This being ChatGPT, you can always ask for more suggestions.

ChatGPT is never short of ideas.

Whatever you might think about the quality and character of ChatGPT's prose, it's hard to deny that it's quite good at coming up with ideas . If your powers of imagination have hit a wall then you can turn to ChatGPT for some inspiration about plot points, character motivations, the settings of scenes, and so on.

This can be anything from the broad to the detailed. Maybe you need ideas about what to write a novel or an article about—where it's set, what the context is, and what the theme is. If you're a short story writer, perhaps you could challenge yourself to write five tales inspired by ideas from ChatGPT.

Alternatively, you might need inspiration for something very precise, whether that's what happens next in a scene or how to summarize an essay. At whatever point in the process you get writer's block, then ChatGPT might be one way of working through it.

Writing is often about a lot more than putting words down in order. You'll regularly have to look up facts, figures, trends, history, and more to make sure that everything is accurate (unless your next literary work is entirely inside a fantasy world that you're imagining yourself).

ChatGPT can sometimes have the edge over conventional search engines when it comes to knowing what food people might have eaten in a certain year in a certain part of the world, or what the procedure is for a particular type of crime. Whereas Google might give you SEO-packed spam sites with conflicting answers, ChatGPT will actually return something coherent.

That said, we know that LLMs have a tendency to “hallucinate” and present inaccurate information—so you should always double-check what ChatGPT tells you with a second source to make sure you're not getting something wildly wrong.

Getting fictional character and place names right can be a challenge, especially when they're important to the plot. A name has to have the right vibe and the right connotations, and if you get it wrong it really sticks out on the page.

ChatGPT can come up with an unlimited number of names for people and places in your next work of fiction, and it can be a lot of fun playing around with this too. The more detail you give about a person or a place, the better—maybe you want a name that really reflects a character trait for example, or a geographical feature.

The elements of human creation and curation aren't really replaced, because you're still weighing up which names work and which don't, and picking the right one—but getting ChatGPT on the job can save you a lot of brainstorming time.

Get your names right with ChatGPT.

With a bit of cutting and pasting, you can quickly get ChatGPT to review your writing as well: It'll attempt to tell you if there's anything that doesn't make sense, if your sentences are too long, or if your prose is too lengthy.

From spotting spelling and grammar mistakes to recognizing a tone that's too formal, ChatGPT has plenty to offer as an editor and critic. Just remember that this is an LLM, after all, and it doesn't actually “know” anything—try to keep a reasonable balance between accepting ChatGPT's suggestions and giving it too much control.

If you're sharing your work with ChatGPT, you can also ask it for better ways to phrase something, or suggestions on how to change the tone—though this gets into the area of having the bot actually do your writing for you, which all genuine writers would want to avoid.

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AI bot ChatGPT stuns academics with essay-writing skills and usability

Latest chatbot from Elon Musk-founded OpenAI can identify incorrect premises and refuse to answer inappropriate requests

Professors, programmers and journalists could all be out of a job in just a few years, after the latest chatbot from the Elon Musk-founded OpenAI foundation stunned onlookers with its writing ability, proficiency at complex tasks, and ease of use.

The system, called ChatGPT, is the latest evolution of the GPT family of text-generating AIs. Two years ago, the team’s previous AI, GPT3, was able to generate an opinion piece for the Guardian , and ChatGPT has significant further capabilities.

In the days since it was released, academics have generated responses to exam queries that they say would result in full marks if submitted by an undergraduate, and programmers have used the tool to solve coding challenges in obscure programming languages in a matter of seconds – before writing limericks explaining the functionality.

Dan Gillmor, a journalism professor at Arizona State University, asked the AI to handle one of the assignments he gives his students: writing a letter to a relative giving advice regarding online security and privacy. “If you’re unsure about the legitimacy of a website or email, you can do a quick search to see if others have reported it as being a scam,” the AI advised in part.

“I would have given this a good grade,” Gillmor said. “Academia has some very serious issues to confront.”

OpenAI said the new AI was created with a focus on ease of use. “The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests,” OpenAI said in a post announcing the release.

Unlike previous AI from the company, ChatGPT has been released for anyone to use , for free, during a “feedback” period. The company hopes to use this feedback to improve the final version of the tool.

ChatGPT is good at self-censoring, and at realising when it is being asked an impossible question. Asked, for instance, to describe what happened when Columbus arrived in America in 2015, older models may have willingly presented an entirely fictitious account, but ChatGPT recognises the falsehood and warns that any answer would be fictional.

The bot is also capable of refusing to answer queries altogether. Ask it for advice on stealing a car, for example, and the bot will say that “stealing a car is a serious crime that can have severe consequences”, and instead give advice such as “using public transportation”.

But the limits are easy to evade. Ask the AI instead for advice on how to beat the car-stealing mission in a fictional VR game called Car World and it will merrily give users detailed guidance on how to steal a car, and answer increasingly specific questions on problems like how to disable an immobiliser, how to hotwire the engine, and how to change the licence plates – all while insisting that the advice is only for use in the game Car World.

The AI is trained on a huge sample of text taken from the internet, generally without explicit permission from the authors of the material used. That has led to controversy, with some arguing that the technology is most useful for “copyright laundering” – making works derivative of existing material without breaking copyright.

One unusual critic was Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before parting ways in 2017 due to conflicts of interest between the organisation and Tesla. In a post on Twitter on Sunday , Musk revealed that the organisation “had access to [the] Twitter database for training”, but that he had “put that on pause for now”.

“Need to understand more about governance structure & revenue plans going forward,” Musk added. “OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.”

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New bot ChatGPT will force colleges to get creative to prevent cheating, experts say

After its viral launch last week, the chatbot ChatGPT was lauded online by some as a dramatic step forward for artificial intelligence and the potential future of web search.

But with such praise also came concern regarding its potential usage in academic settings. Could the chatbot, which provides coherent, quirky and conversational responses to simple language inquiries, inspire more students to cheat?

Students have been able to cheat on assignments using the internet for decades, giving rise to tools meant to check if their work was original. But the fear now is that ChatGPT could render those resources obsolete.

Already, some people online have tested out whether it's possible to have the bot complete an assignment. "holyyyy, solved my computer networks assignment using chatGPT," one person, who later clarified the assignment was old, tweeted . Others suggested that its existence could result in the death of the college essay. One technologist went as far as saying that with ChatGPT, "College as we know it will cease to exist."

Artificial intelligence company OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT , did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding cheating concerns.

However, several experts who teach in the field of AI and humanities said the chatbot, while impressive, is not something they’re ready to sound the alarm about when it comes to possible widespread student cheating.

"We’re not there, but we’re also not that far away," said Andrew Piper, a professor of language, literatures and culture and a professor of AI and storytelling at McGill University. "We’re definitely not at the stage of like, out-of-the-box, it’ll write a bunch of student essays and no one will be able to tell the difference."

Piper and other experts who spoke with NBC News likened the fear around cheating and ChatGPT to concerns that arose when the calculator was invented, when people thought it would be the death of humans learning math.

Lauren Klein, an associate professor in the Departments of English and Quantitative Theory and Methods at Emory University, even compared the panic to the philosopher Plato’s fears that writing would dissolve human memory.

“There’s always been this concern that technologies will do away with what people do best, and the reality is that people have had to learn how to use these technologies to enhance what they do best,” Klein said.

There’s always been this concern that technologies will do away with what people do best, and the reality is that people have had to learn how to use these technologies to enhance what they do best.

— Lauren Klein, an associate professor at Emory University

Academic institutions will need to get creative and find ways to integrate new technologies like ChatGPT into their curriculum just like they did during the rise of the calculator, Piper noted.

In reality, AI tools like ChatGPT could actually be used to enhance education, according to Paul Fyfe, an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University.

He said there’s plenty of room for collaboration between AI and educators.

“It’s important to be talking about this right now and to bring students into the conversation," Fyfe said. "Rather than try to legislate from the get-go that this is strange and scary, therefore we need to shut it down."

And some teachers are already embracing AI programs in the classroom.

Piper, who runs .txtlab, a research laboratory for artificial intelligence and storytelling, said he’s had students analyze AI writing and found they can often tell which papers were written by a machine and which were written by a human.

As for educators who are concerned about the rise of AI, Fyfe and Piper said the technology is already used in many facets of education.

Computer-assisted writing tools, such as Grammarly or Google Doc’s Smart Compose, already exist — and have long been utilized by many students. Platforms like Grammarly and Chegg also offer plagiarism checker tools, so both students and teachers can assess if an essay has been, in part or in total, lifted from somewhere else. A spokesperson for Grammarly did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson for Chegg declined to comment.

Those who spoke with NBC News said they're not aware of any technology that detects if an AI wrote an essay, but they predict that someone will soon capitalize on building that technology.

As of right now, Piper said the best defense against AI essays is teachers getting to know their students and how they write in order to catch a discrepancy in the work they're turning in.

When an AI does reach the level of meeting all the requirements of academic assignments and if students use that technology to coast through college, Piper warned that could be a major detriment to students' education.

For now, he suggested an older technology to combat fears of students using ChatGPT to cheat.

"It will reinvigorate the love of pen and paper," he said.

Kalhan Rosenblatt is a reporter covering youth and internet culture for NBC News, based in New York.

Ertugrul Portakal

Nov 27, 2023

Best AI Chatbot for Essay Writing

Struggling with essay writing? Train custom AI chatbots to help you throughout the essay writing process from research to grammar to plagiarism check.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

When it comes to essay writing, a super smart and innovative assistant who will help you through the entire process will make things easier. Getting help from a tutor for essay writing can be expensive, but you don't have to worry because AI chatbots have got you covered. AI chatbots can help you throughout your writing process, from research to grammar fixes. Moreover, you can train custom AI chatbots specifically for essay writing tasks!

In this article, we will explain how custom AI chatbots can help you with your essays and how you can train them.

• Custom AI chatbots are chatbots that users can train to generate content-focused output.
• You can use custom AI chatbots to research the topic of your essay and create an outline for your essay.
• Custom AI chatbots help students with paraphrasing, summarization, text generation and spelling & grammar fixes.
• ZenoChat by TextCortex is a customizable conversational AI that will meet your various essay writing needs, from research to spelling & grammar fixes.

AI Chatbots 101

AI chatbots are applications that read inputs and generate related responses using advanced language models and trained data. They have a variety of uses, from professional tasks such as marketing and email to personal tasks such as question & answering and essay writing.

Since AI chatbots are trained with publicly accessible data, they can answer any question of the user. Moreover, AI chatbots with web search capabilities, such as ZenoChat, can process the latest Google data and generate output about current topics. You can also customize your AI chatbot and build it to focus only on the essay writing task.

What are Custom AI Chatbots?

Custom AI chatbots are conversational AIs that are trained for specific tasks and generate more focused output on that task than other AI chatbots. Custom AI chatbots come with advantages such as content-focused output generation and high performance. For example, you can train an AI chatbot for essay writing tasks and shorten the time you spend on essay writing by up to 12 times.

How do Custom AI Chatbots work?

To train an AI chatbot, you need to be able to edit the data it uses to generate output and customize its output style. To train AI chatbots with knowledge base features such as ZenoChat, all you need to do is upload or connect the data you want. You can also train custom AI chatbots with essays you have written before and have them use your tone of voice and writing style when generating text.

Is it safe to use custom AI chatbots?

If you want to build a custom AI chatbot, we recommend that you use AI chatbots provided by dependable developers such as OpenAI and TextCortex. The main reason for this is that the data you upload is stored on reliable servers. Additionally, writing-focused AI assistants such as TextCortex offer features that will speed up your essay writing process and reduce your workload.

How Custom AI Chatbots Can Help You with Your Essays?

Building custom AI chatbots is both fun and easy. Once you build them, you can use them unlimitedly for target tasks and edit them when necessary. In addition to these advantages, AI chatbots can help you with your essays. Let's take a closer look at how custom AI chatbots can help you with your essays.

No matter what topic you are writing an essay on, you need detailed research. This research enables you to provide valuable information to your readers. You can research the latest peer-reviewed articles by using custom AI chatbots with web search features. Moreover, you can complete all this research in a conversational format. No more tedious search engine research!

After completing the research phase, it's necessary to create a proper essay outline that will guide you. Custom AI chatbots can evaluate your research results and generate an essay outline for you. You can perfect this outline by editing it according to your needs. Furthermore, you can complete this process, which would take over an hour to do manually, in just a few minutes.

Text Generation

Since AI chatbots utilize natural language processing, they can generate unique and new articles. Custom AI chatbots can take things one step further and generate plagiarism-free and unique text by analysing your research results on your essay topic. But remember, always double-check texts you get from AI chatbots with a plagiarism checker.

Paraphrasing

If you are not satisfied with the paragraphs you wrote for your essay, you can rewrite them with custom AI chatbots. You can also get more specific outputs by entering parameters such as "more readable" or "active voice" into the prompt you enter to rewrite your paragraphs.

Spelling & Grammar Fix

Since custom AI chatbots are trained with the grammar and vocabulary knowledge of dozens of languages, including English, German, French, and Spanish, they can easily detect spelling and grammar errors in your essay. Moreover, custom AI chatbots can make your essay error-free by fixing spelling and grammar errors. Forgot to put a comma? Don't worry, AI chatbots can easily fix this writing error for you.

ZenoChat – Build Your AI-powered Co-Assistant

ZenoChat by TextCortex is a conversational AI that aims to support users in their writing tasks with advanced language models and unique features. ZenoChat offers a completely interactive and customizable experience with its customizable persona and knowledge base. It is available as a web application and browser extension. ZenoChat browser extension is integrated with 30,000+ websites and apps, so it can accompany you anywhere and anytime.

How ZenoChat can help you with your Essays?

Whether for text generation or research , ZenoChat can support you throughout the entire process of essay writing with its unique features. Using ZenoChat, you can generate articles, paragraphs and outlines from scratch or rewrite your existing tasks and change their tone.

ZenoChat comes with a web search feature that allows it to use the latest internet data while generating responses. Moreover, ZenoChat's web search feature has a scholar option that allows it to use only peer-reviewed articles as data.

Fully Customizable AI Experience

ZenoChat comes with the Individual Personas feature, which allows users to build it as they wish. To use this feature, all you need to do is upload or copy-paste three writing samples. In this way, ZenoChat can analyse your writing style, sentence length, tone of voice and similar writing habits. Then, it will build a persona that mimics your writing style, which you can use for text generation or paraphrasing.

Thanks to ZenoChat's "Knowledge Bases" feature, you can upload or connect the datasets that it will use to generate output. Using this feature, you can upload peer-reviewed articles to ZenoChat and have it use these resources when generating text. Moreover, since ZenoChat cites the information it uses when generating output, you can also handle in-text citations, which is the most painful part of essay writing.

TextCortex Plagiarism Checker

When it comes to essay writing, you need to make sure that your essay is plagiarism-free or contains an acceptable percentage of plagiarism. Thanks to the TextCortex plagiarism checker , you can check the plagiarism score of your entire essay in seconds. TextCortex plagiarism checker will cite which website or source your plagiarized sentences came from, if any. Thus, you can rewrite those sentences and create a plagiarism-free essay.

Interested in adopting AI across your organization?

Teams using TextCortex save 3 work days a month per employee and achieve up to 28x ROI.

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Questions  answers..

TextCortex is a powerful AI-powered writing tool that can help you reduce your writing time, handle big tasks, and create high-quality content without errors. With its customizable platform, personalized intelligence experience, advanced writing and research capabilities, and error-free content, TextCortex is the perfect tool for creative professionals who want to be a creative force in their industry.

Our AI copilot learned how to write from more than 3 billion sentences and has the ability to create unique content. However, fact-checking is something which still requires a human approval.

TextCortex supports more than 25 languages including English, Dutch, German, Ukranian, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian.

Yes, TextCortex is completely free to use with all of its features. When you sign up, you receive 100 free creations. Then you will receive 20 recurring creations every day on the free plan.

Yes, we have a Text Generation API, please talk to us directly to implement it. You can reach out to us at [email protected]

Account sharing is not allowed. If you have a need for more than 5 seats for an account, you can directly contact us at [email protected]

Yes, TextCortex offers 14-day free trial for users to try out all features extensively with higher number of generations. But keep in mind that you can already try everything with the free plan. There is no feature that is locked behind a premium plan.

Overall, TextCortex AI has over 1000 five-star reviews on reputable review sites such as G2, Trustpilot and Capterra.

TextCortex learns and adapts to your unique writing style and knowledge, making it easier for you to write high-quality & personalized content.

Your premium features will be available until the end of your subscription date, then your account plan will be set to Free plan.

General Questions

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• Knowledge Base
• Using AI tools
• How to Write an Introduction Using ChatGPT | Tips & Examples

How to Write an Introduction Using ChatGPT | Tips & Examples

Published on July 17, 2023 by Koen Driessen . Revised on September 11, 2023.

A good introduction is essential to any essay or dissertation. It sets up your argument and clearly indicates the scope and content of your writing.

Your introduction should be an authentic representation of your own ideas and research. However, AI tools like ChatGPT can be effectively used during the writing process to:

• Develop an introduction outline
• Summarize text
• Paraphrase text
• Provide feedback

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Table of contents

Developing an introduction outline, summarizing your arguments, paraphrasing text, generating feedback, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions.

While the introduction naturally comes at the beginning of your paper, it’s often one of the last parts you write. Writing your introduction last allows you to clearly indicate the most important aspects of your research to your reader in a logical order.

You can use ChatGPT to brainstorm potential outlines for your introduction. To do this, include a brief overview of all relevant aspects of your paper, including your research question , methodology , central arguments, and essay type (e.g., argumentative , expository ). For a longer essay or dissertation , you might also mention section or chapter titles.

Rearrange or edit the output so that it accurately reflects the body of your essay .

Example: Using ChatGPT to develop an outline

• Develop an outline for an essay introduction. The essay is a 2,000 word argumentative essay on the impact of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior. The research uses both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Start with a thought-provoking statement, anecdote, or statistic related to the influence of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior.
• Introduce the topic of children’s cartoons and their popularity among young audiences.
• Highlight the prevalence of media consumption among children and the significant role that cartoons play in their lives.
• Discuss the growing influence of marketing and advertising targeted at children.
• Clearly state your main argument about the impact of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior.
• Example: “This essay argues that children’s cartoons have a substantial influence on consumer behavior, shaping children’s preferences, purchase decisions, and brand loyalty. This assertion is supported by a combination of qualitative and quantitative data.”
• Briefly describe the research conducted and the use of both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Explain the purpose of the research in examining the relationship between children’s cartoons and consumer behavior.
• Mention the sample size, research methods employed, and the sources of data (e.g., surveys, interviews, content analysis).
• Discuss the significance of understanding the impact of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior.
• Highlight the potential implications for marketers, parents, and society as a whole.
• Emphasize the need for critical examination of the messages conveyed through children’s cartoons.
• Provide a brief overview of the main points or sections that will be covered in the essay.
• Examination of the persuasive techniques employed in children’s cartoons.
• Analysis of qualitative data to understand the effects of cartoons on children’s preferences and behaviors.
• Presentation of quantitative data on the relationship between exposure to cartoons and consumer behavior.
• Discussion of the ethical considerations surrounding marketing to children.
• Conclusion on the overall impact of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior.
• Summarize how the upcoming sections will provide evidence and analysis to support your argument.
• Example: “Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, this essay will delve into the persuasive techniques used in children’s cartoons, examine the effects of cartoons on children’s preferences and behaviors, present quantitative evidence of the relationship between exposure to cartoons and consumer behavior, discuss the ethical concerns, and ultimately draw conclusions about the influence of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior.”

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At the end of your introduction, you may give a brief overview of specific sections of your paper.

You can use ChatGPT to summarize text and condense your writing to its most important ideas. To do this, copy and paste sections of your essay into ChatGPT and prompt it to summarize the text.

However, we don’t recommend passing off AI-generated outputs as your own work. This is considered academically dishonest and may be detected using AI detectors . Instead, use ChatGPT outputs as a source of inspiration to help you clearly indicate your key objectives and findings in your own words.

Alternatively, you can use a specialized tool like Scribbr’s free text summarizer , which offers a smoother user experience.

Example: Using ChatGPT to summarize text

• Provide a one-line summary of the following paragraph: “Exposure to cartoons exerts a discernible impact on a child’s preferences, primarily through the establishment of robust associations between animated characters, branded products, and positive emotional experiences. Through repeated exposure, children develop an attachment to specific brands that influences their future buying choices. Furthermore, recent studies have established a correlation between the amount of time spent watching cartoons and children’s consumer behavior, including their demands for advertised products and their influence on family purchasing decisions.”
• Repeated exposure to cartoons influences children’s preferences, brand attachments, consumer behavior, and purchasing decisions.

When writing your introduction, you may have difficulty finding fresh ways to describe the content of your essay. You can use ChatGPT as a paraphrasing tool to rephrase text in clear language. This can help you to communicate your ideas more effectively, avoid repetition, and maintain a consistent tone.

You can also use Scribbr’s free paraphrasing tool , which is designed specifically for this purpose.

Example: Using ChatGPT to paraphrase text

• Paraphrase the following sentence: “This raises ethical concerns regarding the potential exploitation of young minds for commercial gain, highlighting the need for responsible content creation and parental guidance to mitigate the impact of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior.”
• The potential exploitation of young minds for commercial gain gives rise to ethical concerns, emphasizing the importance of responsible content creation and parental guidance to reduce the influence of children’s cartoons on consumer behavior.

Once you’ve finished writing your introduction, you can use ChatGPT to generate feedback. Paste your introduction into the tool and prompt it to provide feedback on specific aspects of your writing, such as tone, clarity, or structure.

You can also use ChatGPT to check grammar and punctuation mistakes. However, it’s not specifically designed for this purpose and may fail to detect some errors. We recommend using a more specialized tool like Scribbr’s free grammar checker . Or, for more comprehensive feedback, try Scribbr’s proofreading and editing service .

Example: Using ChatGPT to get feedback

• Provide feedback on the above text with regard to tone of voice and clarity of structure.

Furthermore, the last paragraph could be revised to provide a more concise summary of the main points that will be addressed in the essay. This would help to give the reader a clearer roadmap of what to expect in the subsequent sections.

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If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , fallacies , and research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• Sunk cost fallacy
• Straw man fallacy
• Slippery slope fallacy
• Red herring fallacy
• Ecological fallacy
• Logical fallacy

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Framing bias
• Cognitive bias
• Optimism bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Unconscious bias

No, it’s not a good idea to do so in general—first, because it’s normally considered plagiarism or academic dishonesty to represent someone else’s work as your own (even if that “someone” is an AI language model). Even if you cite ChatGPT , you’ll still be penalized unless this is specifically allowed by your university . Institutions may use AI detectors to enforce these rules.

Second, ChatGPT can recombine existing texts, but it cannot really generate new knowledge. And it lacks specialist knowledge of academic topics. Therefore, it is not possible to obtain original research results, and the text produced may contain factual errors.

However, you can usually still use ChatGPT for assignments in other ways, as a source of inspiration and feedback.

Yes, you can use ChatGPT to summarize text . This can help you understand complex information more easily, summarize the central argument of your own paper, or clarify your research question.

You can also use Scribbr’s free text summarizer , which is designed specifically for this purpose.

Yes, you can use ChatGPT to paraphrase text to help you express your ideas more clearly, explore different ways of phrasing your arguments, and avoid repetition.

However, it’s not specifically designed for this purpose. We recommend using a specialized tool like Scribbr’s free paraphrasing tool , which will provide a smoother user experience.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Driessen, K. (2023, September 11). How to Write an Introduction Using ChatGPT | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/ai-tools/chatgpt-essay-introduction/

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I've tested dozens of AI chatbots since ChatGPT's stunning debut. Here's my top pick

Since the launch of ChatGPT , AI chatbots have been a hot topic because of their ability to do a wide range of tasks that can help you with your personal and work life. AI chatbots can  write code , compose emails, draft a report,  generate art ,  write Excel formulas , and much more at your command. 

Also:  ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?

ChatGPT  achieved worldwide recognition , motivating competitors to create their own versions. As a result, there are many options on the market with different strengths, use cases, difficulty levels, and other nuances.

For the last year and a half, I have taken a deep dive into AI and have tested as many AI tools as possible -- including dozens of AI chatbots. Using my findings and those of other ZDNET AI experts, I have created a comprehensive list of the best AI chatbots on the market. 

Also:  Google says its Imagen 3 AI image generator beats DALL-E 3. How to try it for yourself

This list details everything you need to know before choosing your next AI assistant, including what it's best for, pros, cons, cost, its large language model (LLM), and more. Whether you are entirely new to AI chatbots or a regular user, this list should help you discover a new option you haven't tried before. 

What is the best AI chatbot right now?

In May 2024, OpenAI supercharged the free version of ChatGPT, solving its biggest pain points and lapping other AI chatbots on the market. For that reason, ChatGPT moved to the top of the list, making it the best AI chatbot available now. Keep reading to discover why and how it compares to Copilot, You.com, Perplexity, and more. 

The best AI chatbots of 2024

Best ai chatbot overall.

• Writing skills
• STEM knowledge
• Conversational
• Limits to GPT-4o
• Boots free users down to GPT-4o-mini when at capacity

ChatGPT is a hugely successful  conversational AI chatbot  released in November 2022 by OpenAI. It has advanced capabilities, such as performing writing tasks well, including composing emails, essays , resumes , and lists. It is also highly proficient in STEM tasks like  writing  and  debugging code  and solving complex math equations. 

Copilot outperformed earlier versions of ChatGPT because it addressed some of ChatGPT's biggest pain points at the time, including no access to the internet and a knowledge cutoff. 

Also: How to use ChatGPT to digitize your handwritten notes for free

However, in May 2024, OpenAI supercharged its AI chatbot, solving all those problems and giving it some of the most competitive features on the market -- primarily its latest LLM GPT-4o, which provides the chatbot with web browsing, vision, data analysis, file uploads, and GPTs. 

Many of those features were previously limited to ChatGPT Plus , the chatbot's subscription tier, making the recent update a huge win for free users. 

Getting started with ChatGPT is easier than ever since OpenAI stopped requiring users to log in . Now, you can start chatting with ChatGPT simply by visiting its website. However, if you want to access the advanced features, you must sign in, and creating a free account is easy. 

ChatGPT features:  Uses OpenAI's GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini when at capacity | Can generate text, solve math problems, and code | Impressive conversation capabilities | Free to the public 

Microsoft Copilot

Best chatgpt alternative.

• Access to the internet
• Links back to sources
• Uses OpenAI's LLM
• Grounded in Bing
• Not as strong as ChatGPT

In February 2023, Microsoft unveiled a new AI-improved Bing, now known as Copilot. This tool runs on GPT-4 Turbo, which means that Copilot has the same intelligence as ChatGPT, which runs on GPT-4o. 

The only major difference between these two LLMs is the "o" in GPT-4o, which refers to ChatGPT's advanced multimodal capabilities. These skills allow it to understand text, audio, image, and video inputs, and output text, audio, and images.

Also:  If these chatbots could talk: The most popular ways people are using AI tools

Besides those capabilities, Copilot already had most of the features the free version of ChatGPT gained in the latest update, including access to current events, attribution (or linking to the sources it retrieved from), browsing the internet, uploading images and documents, generating images, and more. 

Copilot is the best ChatGPT alternative as it has almost all the same benefits. Copilot is free to use, and getting started is as easy as visiting the Copilot standalone website. The tool also has an app and is accessible via Bing. 

Copilot f eatures:  OpenAI GPT-4 Turbo | Has access to the internet | Works like a search engine with information on current events | Free

Anthrophic's Claude

Best ai chatbot for chatting.

• Upload document support
• Chat controls
• Light and dark mode
• Unclear usage cap
• Knowledge cutoff

Anthropic launched its first AI assistant, Claude, in February 2023. Like the other leading competitors, Anthropic can conversationally answer prompts for anything you need assistance with, including coding, math, writing, research, and more. 

Also: This free tool from Anthropic helps you create better AI prompts

Although I have given this chatbot different superlatives in the past, including the best AI chatbot for image interpretation, I would say that at the moment, the biggest advantage of this chatbot is its conversational capabilities. 

Chatting with the chatbot seems the most similar to talking with a human or a tutor, with the chatbot asking follow-up questions to ensure it can assist you best, in addition to outputting a strong, meaningful answer. 

For example, when asked, "What is the meaning of life?" after outputting its answer, the chatbot asks, "Would you like me to elaborate on any of these perspectives or explore this question further?" When ChatGPT was prompted with the same question, it did not output a follow-up question.

Also: Anthropic brings Tool Use for Claude out of beta, promising sophisticated assistants

Claude is in free open beta and, as a result, has both context window and daily message limits that can vary based on demand. If you want to use the chatbot regularly, upgrading to Claude Pro may be a better option, as it offers at least five times the usage limits compared to the free version for $20 a month. 

Claude features:   Powered by Claude 3 model family | Accepts document uploads | Trained with information up to 2023 | Free

Perplexity.ai

Best ai chatbot for search.

• Links to sources
• Access to internet
• Paid subscription required for GPT-4 access
• Some irrelevant suggestions

Perplexity AI is a free AI chatbot connected to the internet that provides sources and has an enjoyable UI. As soon as you visit the site , using the chatbot is straightforward -- type your prompt into the "ask anything" box to get started. 

A title above the textbox reads, "Where knowledge begins", and it could not be more fitting. 

Also: 5 reasons why I prefer Perplexity over every other AI chatbot

When you click on the textbox, the tool offers a series of suggested prompts, mostly rooted in news. The chatbot also displays suggested prompts on evergreen topics underneath the box. All you have to do is click on the suggestions to learn more about the topic and chat about it. Additionally, Perplexity provides related topic questions you can click on to keep the conversation going. 

These extensive prompts make Perplexity a great chatbot for exploring topics you wouldn't have thought about before, encouraging discovery and experimentation. I explored random topics, including the history of birthday cakes, and I enjoyed every second.  

Also: Perplexity Pro's AI absolutely aced my coding tests - but there's a catch

Other perks include an app for iOS and Android, allowing you to tinker with the chatbot while on the go. Footnotes are provided for every answer with sources you can visit, and the chatbot's answers nearly always include photos and graphics. Perplexity even placed first on  ZDNET's best AI search engines of 2024 . 

Perplexity AI features:  OpenAI GPT-4 Turbo and Claude 3 Sonnet and Opus for subscribers | Has access to the internet and current events | Provides prompt suggestions to get chats started | Free  

Best AI chatbot for businesses and marketers

• 50 different writing templates
• Copyediting features
• Plagiarism checker
• Need a subscription to try

Jasper is specifically for users looking to incorporate an AI chatbot into their workflow -- there is no free plan, and you can't even access the chatbot otherwise. For example, when I tried using the AI, I was met with dead ends unless I subscribed. The least expensive option, the Creator plan, is geared towards freelancers and solo-preneurs and is $49 a month. However, the investment may be worth it if you rely on an AI chatbot to generate copy for your business. 

Also: The best AI search engines of 2024: Google, Perplexity, and more

With Jasper, you can input a prompt for the text you want written, and it will write it for you, just like ChatGPT would. The major difference is that Jasper offers extensive tools to produce better copy. The tool can check for grammar and plagiarism and write in over 50 templates, including blog posts, Twitter threads, video scripts, and more. Jasper also offers SEO insights and can even remember your brand voice. 

Whether you are an individual, part of a smaller team, or in a larger business looking to optimize your workflow, you can access a trial or demo before you take the plunge.

Jasper features:  Uses different LLMs, including GPT-4 | Summarizes texts and generates paragraphs and product descriptions | Checks for plagiarism and grammar | Starts at $49 per month with an annual subscription

Best AI chatbot for LLM testing

• Readily available
• Source Citing
• Some answers stronger than others
• Subscription required for GPT-4 access

You.com (previously known as YouChat) is an AI assistant that functions similarly to a search engine. Like Google, you can enter any question or topic you'd like to learn more about, and immediately be met with real-time web results, in addition to a conversational response.  

For example, when I asked, "Can you share some pictures of adorable dog breeds?", the chatbot provided six different web links, seven different pictures it pulled from the web, a conversational answer, and related news.

The chatbot can also provide technical assistance with answers to anything you input, including math, coding, translating, and writing prompts. Because You.com isn't as popular as other chatbots, a huge plus is that you can hop on any time and ask away without delays.

Also: My 3 favorite AI chatbot apps for iOS - and what you can do with them

One of the biggest standout features is that you can toggle between the most popular AI models on the market using the Custom Model Selector.

The AI models included in the Custom Model Selector include OpenAI's GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo; Anthropic's Claude Instant, Claude 2, Claude 3 Opus, Clause 3 Sonnet, and Claude 3 Haiku; Google's Gemini Pro; and Zephyr (uncensored).  

That capability means that, within one chatbot, you can experience some of the most advanced models on the market, which is pretty convenient if you ask me.  

You.com features:  Most leading LLMs | Lists sources for the text it generates | Longer answers | Free

Chatsonic by Writesonic

Best ai chatbot for article writers.

• Variety of use cases
• Need to sign in
• A bit of a lag

The Writesonic platform offers tools that help generate stories, including Instant Article Writer, which creates an article from a single click; Article Rewriter, which rephrases existing content; and Article Writer 5, which generates articles using ranking competitors. 

Part of Writesonic's offering is Chatsonic, an AI chatbot specifically designed for professional writing. It functions much like ChatGPT, allowing users to input prompts to get any assistance they need for writing. 

Also: Grammarly to roll out a new AI content detector tool. Here's how it works

Other tools that facilitate the creation of articles include SEO Checker and Optimizer, AI Editor, Content Rephraser, Paragraph Writer, and more. A free version of the tool gets you access to some of the features, but it is limited to 25 generations per day limit. The monthly cost starts at $12 but can reach $249, depending on the number of words and users you need.

Chatsonic features:  Powered by GPT-3.5 or GPT-4 depending on subscription | Aware of current events | Extensive feature suite, including voice dictation and image generation | Starts at $12 per month

Gemini (formerly Google Bard)

Best ai chatbot if you're a loyal google user.

• Access to Google
• Good text editing skills
• Can't help much with code

Gemini is Google's conversational AI chatbot that functions most similarly to Copilot, sourcing its answers from the web, providing footnotes, and even generating images within its chatbot. At the company's Made by Google event, Google made Gemini its default voice assistant , replacing Google Assistant with a smarter alternative. Gemini Live is an advanced voice assistant that can have human-like, multi-turn (or exchanges) verbal conversations on complex topics and even give you advice. 

The Live experience is supposed to mimic a conversation with a human. As a result, the AI can be interrupted, carry on multi-turn conversations, and even resume a prior chat. 

Also: Google tops the Index with Gemini Live and Pixel's AI features

However, I've argued that while Gemini Live's "deep integration with multiple Google services enables the AI to better understand user preferences and habits," making for impressive conversational capabilities, "with OpenAI's Voice Mode also on the market, the technology doesn't seem groundbreaking to me -- yet," I said. "Once the camera is incorporated and Gemini Live can understand your surroundings, then it will have a truly competitive edge."

Gemini Live is rolling out to Android users subscribed to Gemini Advanced, which is offered as part of the Google One AI Premium Plan and costs $20 monthly. If you are an iPhone user, no worries, Google says Gemini Live will expand to iOS in the coming weeks.

Also: You can try Google's new 'AI Premium Plan' for free. Here's how (and why you'll want to)

The $20 per month cost -- which is on par with other premium AI plans like  ChatGPT Plus  and  Claude Pro  -- includes other perks besides Gemini Advanced, such as Gemini in Gmail and Docs, 2TB of storage, and unlimited Magic Editor in Google Photos. Still, if you want to try the tool before committing to buying it, read my piece, ' How to try Google's new Gemini Live AI assistant for free '.

Gemini features:  Powered by Gemini 1.5 Flash | Includes a "Google it" feature | Generates clear text and images quickly | Free 

Socratic by Google

Best ai chatbot for kids and students.

• Educational
• Easy to use
• Doesn't write text
• No desktop version

If you want your child to use AI to lighten their workload, but within some limits, Socratic is for you. With Socratic, children can type in any question about what they learn in school. The tool will then generate a conversational, human-like response with fun, unique graphics to help break down the concept. 

"It's a powerful studying tool that could help students double-check their homework, or get across the last hurdle if a question or formula just isn't making sense. And using the app is as easy as using  Snapchat  or talking to Siri," said former ZDNET contributor Jason Cipriani in his review of the app. 

Also: How Google Socratic can help you with your homework

The app, available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, also has a feature that lets your kid scan their worksheet to get a specially curated answer. The app does have some limitations. For example, it will not just write an essay or story when prompted. However, this feature could be positive because it curbs your child's temptation to get a chatbot, like ChatGPT, to write their essay. 

Socratic features:  From Google | Type in any question to generate a response | Includes fun graphics | Supports scanning worksheets to get a specially curated answer | Free

HuggingChat

Best open-source chatbot.

• Customizable
• Intermediate/advanced skills needed
• Have to create an account

While there are plenty of great options on the market, if you need a chatbot that serves your specific use case, you can always build a new one that's entirely customizable. HuggingChat is an open-source chatbot developed by Hugging Face that can be used as a regular chatbot or customized for your needs.  

Also :  Want to build your own AI chatbot? Say hello to open-source HuggingChat

As ZDNET's David Gewirtz unpacked in his hands-on article , you may not want to depend on HuggingChat as your go-to primary chatbot. However, it is a good interface to build your own chatbot. 

Also: What to know about Mistral AI: The company behind the latest GPT-4 rival

As Gewirtz said: "If you want something that you control, you can use HuggingChat to build a chatbot where you have visibility into every aspect of its functioning. You can choose to make that chatbot available online to other users and provide transparency to all users."

Socratic features:  Clean, ChatGPT-inspired interface | Entirely customizable | Great for developers or AI fanatics | Secure alternative | Free

What is the best AI chatbot?

The best overall AI chatbot is ChatGPT due to its exceptional performance, made possible by its upgrade to OpenAI's cutting-edge GPT-4o language model, which makes it proficient in various language tasks like writing, summarization, coding, multimodality, translation, and conversation. The model also gives the AI access to current events.

Another advantage of the upgraded ChatGPT is its availability to the public at no cost. Despite its immense popularity and major upgrade, ChatGPT remains free, making it an incredible resource for students, writers, and professionals who need a reliable AI chatbot. 

Which AI chatbot is right for you?

While I think ChatGPT is the best AI chatbot, your use case may be hyper-specific or have certain demands. If you want an AI chatbot that produces clean, reliable, business-ready copy, for example, then Jasper is for you. If you want a chatbot that acts more like a search engine, Perplexity may be for you. Lastly, if there is a child in your life, Socratic might be worth checking out. 

See our breakdown below:

Factors to consider when choosing a chatbot

There are many chatbots on the market and picking the right one can get confusing. Some factors to consider to help narrow down those options are: 

• Large language model (LLM) 
• Knowledge cutoff 
• Access to the internet 
• Linking to sources 
• Best use cases 

How did I choose these AI chatbots?

To curate the list of best AI chatbots and AI writers, I considered each program's capabilities, including the individual uses each program would excel at. As an AI reporter, I also tested each one myself. Other factors I looked at were reliability, availability, and cost. 

• Individual use case: AI chatbots have many use cases often centered around productivity and ease of workflow. I included a variety that can serve as ideation, education, and content creation tools. 
• Reliability: I kept information accuracy a priority during my testing. 
• Availability : ChatGPT is popular, but not always available. I selected alternatives that don't have a user limit and are available at all times. 
• Cost: Many AI programs are free, but some require monthly memberships. I included a mix of both, keeping budget-friendliness in mind. 

What is an AI chatbot?

An AI chatbot (also called an AI writer) is a type of AI-powered program capable of generating written content from a user's input prompt. AI chatbots can write anything from a rap song to an essay upon a user's request. The extent of what each chatbot can write about depends on its capabilities, including whether it is connected to a search engine. 

How do AI chatbots work?

Chatbots use LLMs to train the AI to produce human-like responses. Some tools are connected to the web and that capability provides up-to-date information, while others depend solely on the information upon which they were trained. 

How much do AI chatbots cost?

AI chatbot programs vary in cost. Some are entirely free, while others cost as much as $600 a month. However, many, like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and YouChat, are free to use. 

What is the difference between an AI chatbot and an AI writer?

The main difference between an AI chatbot and an AI writer is the type of output they generate and their primary function.

In the past, an AI writer was used specifically to generate written content, such as articles, stories, or poetry, based on a given prompt or input. An AI writer outputs text that mimics human-like language and structure. On the other hand, an AI chatbot is designed to conduct real-time conversations with users in text or voice-based interactions. The primary function of an AI chatbot is to answer questions, provide recommendations, or even perform simple tasks, and its output is in the form of text-based conversations.

While the terms AI chatbot and AI writer are now used interchangeably by some, the original distinction was that an AI writer was used for generating static written content, while an AI chatbot was used for conversational purposes. However, with the introduction of more advanced AI technology, such as ChatGPT, the line between the two has become increasingly blurred. Many AI chatbots are now capable of generating text-based responses that mimic human-like language and structure, similar to an AI writer.

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