What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022. It is based on OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 families of large language models and has been fine-tuned using supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.
It certainly made a splash. “ChatGPT is frighteningly good. We are not far from dangerously strong AI,” said Elon Musk, who was one of OpenAI’s founders before leaving the company. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, said on Twitter that ChatGPT had more than 1 million users in the first five days after launch. Altman told Musk the average cost of each response was in the “single-digit cents,” but acknowledged it would eventually have to be monetized because of the “horrendous” computational costs.
According to an analysis by Swiss bank UBS, ChatGPT is the fastest-growing app of all time. In January, just two months after launch, the UBS analysis estimated that ChatGPT had 100 million active users. By comparison, it took TikTok nine months to reach 100 million.
Is ChatGPT free of charge?
ChatGPT is available for free through OpenAI’s website. You can access ChatGPT by simply visiting chat.openai.com and register for a free OpenAI account. There is also the option to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus for unlimited access, faster responses, and no blackout windows. ChatGPT Plus also provides priority access to new features for a subscription price of $20 per month.
Without the subscription, there are limitations. The most notable limitation of the free version is access to ChatGPT when the program is busy. The “Plus” membership provides unlimited access to avoid capacity constraints.
What types of questions can users ask ChatGPT?
Users can ask ChatGPT a variety of questions, including simple or more complex questions such as “What is the meaning of life?” or “In what year did New York become a state?” ChatGPT masters the disciplines of STEM and can debug or write code. There is no limit to the types of questions you can ask ChatGPT. However, ChatGPT uses data up to the year 2021, so it has no knowledge of events and data after that year. And since it’s a chatbot that works in dialog, you can ask it for more information or ask it to try again when you text.