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The Gist
- Browse the web with ChatGPT. Browsing is being rolled out this week to ChatGPT Plus users as a beta.
- More than 70 plug-ins added. OpenAI will now offer 70-plus third party plug-ins within ChatGPT.
- You have to pay to play. The new features are currently only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
On Friday, OpenAI announced early access to experimental features previously available only to a small number of ChatGPT Plus users and developers from OpenAI’s waitlist. But now an array of third-party plug-ins, including two created by ChatGPT — web browsing and Code Interpreter, will be available to all ChatGPT Plus users by the end of the week.
Introduced in February, ChatGPT Plus, is a subscription service, available for $20/month that promises access to ChatGPT during peak times, faster response times and priority access to new features. At this time, the plug-ins will not be available to users in the free version of ChatGPT.
ChatGPT Plus users can access the features from a new beta panel in their settings — but according to dozens of posts across Twitter, the rollout isn’t going as quickly as some might like.
me sitting at my desk waiting for my ChatGPT plug-ins #ChatGPT #AI pic.twitter.com/xrrBVRBYmi
— Nick (@Moon3PO) May 12, 2023
While some of those with access to the beta version are already encountering problems.
Got access to the GPT-4 plugins but they stuck loading😢 pic.twitter.com/NABvWybet9
— Loup (@jai_vos_dents) May 12, 2023
ChatGPT Plus Expands Its Arsenal With 70+ External Plug-Ins
Exactly which third-party plug-ins will be available to ChatGPT Plus users is still a bit of a mystery until the rollout is complete but a “plug-in” could be an addition to a content management system like WordPress that uses ChatGPT to automatically generate content, or a tool for a CRM system that uses ChatGPT to automate customer service responses. Alternatively, they could be more specialized tools for tasks like programming help, data analysis or language translation.
For marketers and customer experience leaders, plug-ins could potentially assist in several areas.
Content creation and curation. This plug-in could utilize GPT’s capabilities to generate marketing copy, write blog posts and curate content for social media. SEO integration could also be added.
Customer interaction automation. A plug-in could be developed to help automate customer interactions such as support tickets, FAQs and chat support, using GPT’s natural language understanding and generation capabilities to provide more human-like responses.
Sentiment Analysis. A plug-in designed to scrutinize textual feedback, reviews or social media comments can yield invaluable insights.
Market research: With a plug-in developed to analyze trends, users could conduct competitor analyses and even predict future market trends based on available data.
Customer Journey Mapping. An AI-based plug-in designed to scrutinize customer behavior data and delineate customer journeys can be instrumental in pinpointing critical interaction points, unearthing chances for engagement and detecting potential problem areas that require attention.
Related Article: OpenAI Founders on Generative AI — And the Customer Experience Correlations
Surf’s Up! ChatGPT Unveils Web Browsing Integration
ChatGPT boasts a formidable knowledge base. Trained on countless books, articles and websites, it’s capable of answering a broad spectrum of queries with surprising depth and nuance. However, as advanced as it is, ChatGPT has a distinct temporal limit — the year 2021.
And for many users, a certain response has become all too familiar.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t provide that information because my training only includes knowledge up until September 2021, and I’m unable to access real-time data or updates” — ChatGPT.
Because the AI’s training data only extends through September 2021, any developments, breakthroughs or events occurring after this date remain outside its realm of knowledge.
Until now. Along with access to third-party plug-ins, OpenAI is also debuting its own — ChatGPT browsing, a new beta feature for users seeking real-time information beyond ChatGPT’s training data.
Using a text-based web browser and the Bing API to search, the browsing feature has the ability to integrate data from various sources in order to provide a more substantiated and comprehensive response, including citations. Users can hover over citations to locate the source and verify the data. Once activated, the browsing function is designed to operate selectively — only engaging when necessary.
Related Article: OpenAI Incorporates Web Search Into ChatGPT With Web Browser Plugin
ChatGPT Unveils Code Interpreter, a Python-Savvy Plug-in
Another ChatGPT-hosted plug-in being rolled out is Code Interpreter. With the integration of a working Python interpreter, this new feature allows ChatGPT to understand and use the Python programming language in a “sandboxed, firewalled execution environment.” Because this “sandboxed” environment is temporary and only exists while a user is having a conversation with ChatGPT — the data is more secure.
With Code Interpreter, users can ask ChatGPT to run a piece of Python code and it will remember what it did and use that in your ongoing conversation. What’s more, users can upload files to work with during the conversation and then download the results of any tasks or calculations. It also comes with a bit of storage space for files.
While some users eagerly wait for the rollout and others navigate through initial hiccups, these new features promise to significantly enhance the capabilities of ChatGPT. From real-time web browsing to the ability to understand and execute Python code, the horizon of possibilities has expanded.
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