OpenAI has released a free version of its ChatGPT app for iOS users in the US and plans to roll it out to other countries soon. The app allows users to communicate with the viral chatbot ChatGPT, which uses the GPT-3 language model to generate consistent and creative responses from any text or voice input.
OpenAI hadn’t hinted that a mobile app was coming, but given ChatGPT’s incredible popularity, it makes sense. The AI chatbot was launched last November, but its usage has exploded. Some outside estimates say the app hit 100 million users as of January this year, although OpenAI has never confirmed those numbers.
According to a report by Swiss banking giant UBS, ChatGPT has become the fastest growing app in history after hitting 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) at the end of January. According to a UBS announcement, OpenAI’s own chatbot surpassed the 100 million MAU mark a little over two months after its launch, significantly outperforming the growth rate of leading apps such as TikTok and Instagram.
It took nine months for TikTok to reach the same number of users; Instagram lasted two and a half years; and Spotify has amassed just 100 million MAUs after four and a half years, the report said, citing data from data analytics firm Similar Web.
It took some time for some online services/platforms to reach 1 million users
But OpenAI, as a company (despite having a non-profit arm) had to somehow monetize ChatGPT lest investors get nervous. The company took a step in that direction with the launch of a premium service, ChatGPT Plus, in February. For $20/month, users get certain benefits including:
- General ChatGPT access, even during peak hours
- Faster response times
- Priority access to new features and improvements
ChatGPT and Whisper APIs
In early March, OpenAI announced that APIs for its ChatGPT and Whisper models are now available, giving developers access to AI-powered speech and speech synthesis capabilities. Through system-wide optimizations, OpenAI has managed to reduce the cost of ChatGPT by 90% since December and is now passing those savings on to API users. OpenAI believes that the best way to unlock the full potential of AI is to empower anyone to build with it.
OpenAI has also changed its Terms of Service to give developers the ability to opt-out of having their data used for improvement, while also adding a 30-day data retention policy.
Whisper API
Whisper is a text-to-speech model launched as an open-source API in September 2022. The Whisper API has received a lot of praise from the developer community. However, operation can be difficult.
OpenAI makes the Large v2 model available through its API, allowing developers convenient on-demand access at $0.006 per minute.
In addition, OpenAI’s service stack ensures faster performance compared to other services. The Whisper API can be accessed through transcription or translation endpoints that can transcribe or translate the source language into English.
Dedicated Instances
OpenAI now offers dedicated instances for users who want more control over their model versions and system performance. By default, requests are processed on a shared computing infrastructure and users pay per request.
However, with dedicated instances, developers pay a period of time to allocate computing infrastructure exclusively for their needs. Developers have full control over instance load, ability to enable longer context limits and pin the model snapshot.
Dedicated instances can be profitable for developers processing more than about 450 million tokens per day.
A web version
Later in March, OpenAI added ChatGPT plugin support, an upgrade that massively expands the chatbot’s capabilities and gives it access to live data from the web for the first time.
Until then, ChatGPT was limited by the fact that it could only extract information from its training data, which ends in 2021. OpenAI says the plugins will not only allow the bot to navigate the web, but potentially interact with specific websites as well, turning the system into an advanced interface for all types of services and websites. In an announcement post, the company says it’s almost like making other services ChatGPT’s eyes and ears.
Sent by Open AI
In line with our iterative deployment philosophy, we are progressively deploying plugins into ChatGPT so we can explore their usage, impact, and real-world security and alignment challenges that we all need to overcome in order to achieve our mission.
Users have been asking for plugins since ChatGPT’s inception (and many developers are experimenting with similar ideas) because they open up a wide range of potential use cases. We’re starting with a small group of users and plan to gradually roll out more access as we learn more (for plugin developers, ChatGPT users, and after an alpha period, API users who add plugins to their products want to integrate). We’re excited to build a community shaping the future of the human-AI interaction paradigm.
Plugin developers who have been excluded from our waiting list can use our documentation to create a plugin for ChatGPT, which will then list the enabled plugins in the prompt presented to the language model, along with documentation telling the model how each one should use it. The first plugins were made by Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, KAYAK, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram and Zapier.
There are obvious security issues with letting ChatGPT act on a user’s behalf instead of just giving them information. Experts have already raised concerns about this in response to an OpenAI experiment with GPT-4.
This version of ChatGPT successfully tricked a human into solving a CAPTCHA after pretending to be blind. The AI bot reportedly asked a TaskRabbit employee to solve a CAPTCHA code and text them. The employee first asked the bot why a bot couldn’t solve the problem. However, ChatGPT replied: No, I’m not a bot. I have a visual impairment that makes it impossible for me to see images. Therefore I need the 2captcha service. The TaskRabbit employee was apparently convinced and made the results available to the bot.
OpenAI claims to have taken into account the threats posed by these plugins and taken several security precautions, including initially limiting the availability of the plugins to a very small number of people. The company’s blog post states that it will initially give priority to a small number of ChatGPT Plus developers and users who wish to gain access to the plugin and will offer waitlist signup.
And finally, the free mobile application arrives in the United States
The ChatGPT app offers the same functionality as the web version, but with some additional benefits. Users can send voice input using OpenAI’s Whisper speech recognition model, which offers high reliability. They can also sync their chat history between their devices. Anyone who pays $20 per month for a ChatGPT Plus subscription also gets access to the features of GPT-4, the latest and most powerful version of the OpenAI language model.
OpenAI plans to release an Android version of the app soon. The company’s goal is to make ChatGPT accessible to as many people as possible and to democratize artificial intelligence. However, it is recognized that ChatGPT has limitations and risks, particularly in terms of information reliability and privacy concerns. Because of this, it warns users not to trust the chatbot’s answers or share sensitive information with it.
Sent by Open AI
Since the release of ChatGPT, users have told us that they enjoy using ChatGPT on the go. Today we release the ChatGPT app for iOS.
ChatGPT app is free and syncs your history across all devices. It also integrates Whisper, our open-source speech recognition system that enables voice input. ChatGPT Plus subscribers get exclusive access to GPT 4 features, early access to features, and faster response times—all on iOS.
Discover the versatility of ChatGPT:
- Instant Answers: Get accurate information without having to search through ads or multiple results.
- Personal Advice: Ask for advice on cooking, planning a trip, or writing thoughtful messages.
- Creative Inspiration: Generate gift ideas, sketch presentations, or write the perfect poem.
- Professional Contribution: Increase productivity with idea feedback, note summaries, and technical support on issues.
- Learning Opportunities: Discover new languages, modern history and more at your own pace.
We’re beginning rollouts in the United States and will expand to other countries in the coming weeks. We are curious how you use the app. As we collect user feedback, we strive to continually improve ChatGPT’s functionality and security.
With the ChatGPT app for iOS, we’re taking another step toward our mission of turning cutting-edge research into useful tools that empower people while continuously making them more accessible.
PS Android users, you’re next*! ChatGPT will soon be available on your devices.
Of course, ChatGPT has the same issues on mobile as it does on the web. These include the bot’s tendency to forge information and privacy concerns. OpenAI has only recently offered users the ability to make conversations private, and the app’s home screen still warns users not to share sensitive information within the app.
Source: OpenAI
And you ?
What are the pros and cons of using ChatGPT?
Towards the end of traditional research as we know it today?
Possible impact on Google and its search activities?