What Is ChatGPT: Your Ultimate Guide to AI Chatbot

Unless you’re living under a rock, you probably have heard about ChatGPT, a chatbot that has taken the Internet by storm. Since its release, people have found creative ways to use ChatGPT, from building a resume that lands the dream job to a fully functional website.

However, not everyone is on board the AI chatbot bandwagon. If you’re wondering what ChatGPT is, how it works, and how you can use it, read along to learn everything about ChatGPT before you start using it.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer. It is an artificial intelligence tool that generates text based on the input given: You ask a question, and it gives you an answer. However, it’s more than just an AI chatbot. It can assist you with composing emails, essays, and code. You can also have a human-like conversation, thus the ‘Chat’ in ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is developed by Open AI, a San Franciso-based startup popular for its text-to-image generator DALL-E. November 2022 saw the launch of ChatGPT as a prototype. Two months after its release, in January 2023, the platform had over 100 million users, making it one of the fastest-growing software ever.

How Does ChatGPT Work?

ChatGPT is powered by the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), a language model architecture developed by OpenAI. Since 2015, OpenAI has created numerous generations of language prediction models. Since ChatGPT went public, OpenAI has released the GPT-3, 3.5, and 4 language models.

These generative AI models are trained using the data available online, including web pages, books, news articles, and more. The OpenAI team employed a deep learning model known as the transformer architecture throughout the training phase.

The model examined the dataset and established associations between words and sentences. It accomplished this by assessing the likelihood of one word coming next to another and then applying that knowledge to predict the next meaningful word in its sentences. The model can generate entire sentences and paragraphs using only this prediction strategy.

However, OpenAI’s researchers realized that machine learning alone would not be sufficient to make ChatGPT sound like humans. To deal with this, the company hired a few people to do two different types of training: supervised learning and Reinforcement Learning by Human Feedback (RLHF). Human AI trainers used RLHF to feed the model with conversations in which they played both the user and the AI assistant.

You don’t need an OpenAI account to use ChatGPT, as there are other ways to use the chatbot.

What Can I Do With ChatGPT?

People have been experimenting with ChatGPT since its launch to check what the chatbot can and can’t do. Here is a list of a few things you can do with ChatGPT:

1. Build a customized resume and cover letter for a job: Ask ChatGPT to make a resume and a cover letter for the position you want to apply for, and let it do its magic.
2. Explain head-spinning theories: You ask it to explain a complex topic in layman’s terms, such as zero gravity, a four-stroke engine, or a nuclear reactor.
3. Solve complex math problems: Whether it’s a challenging algebra problem or a tricky math problem from your college’s degree program, ChatGPT could come in handy to solve them.
4. Write or explain code: With ChatGPT, you can build your website from scratch by asking it to write the entire code in your preferred language. Whether you’re an experienced developer or a newbie who can only write the “Hello World” program in C, this AI tool will likely save you the time you’d have spent searching for missing commas in your program.
5. Write blogs, captions for social media posts, or essays for school in an instant: If you’re a content creator or a school student with a pending essay assignment and tight deadline, ChatGPT can compose detailed content on a wide range of topics. All you have to do is ask for it, and you shall receive it. But note that there are ChatGPT and AI content detector tools that can identify AI-written content. 
   

ChatGPT can do pretty much anything you ask for. However, don’t expect it to cook you breakfast or change your toddler’s diaper. The best it could do is give tips for those tasks yourself.

Can I Use ChatGPT for Free?

Yes, the basic version of ChatGPT is free to use without any usage limit. However, there is a 500-word or 4,000-character limit for responses. Moreover, you won’t be able to access the tool during peak times.

If you don’t want blackout windows during high demand or any word cap, you can opt for the premium version called ChatGPT Plus for $20 a month. The membership allows you to use the chatbot even during peak hours, offers faster responses, and first access to new features, including plugins. If you are already paying for the chatbot, check out the best ChatGPT plugins to use. 

AI Tools are the Future

ChatGPT and Google Bard could play a vital role in the future. Generative AI has become a hot trend in 2023, with every company jumping on this. You can go through our ChatGPT vs. Google Bard comparison to understand how the two AI tools are different.

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