Chatbots have become so common nowadays that several companies have taken to developing their own versions. Most would have you setting up accounts just to use them, and as of April, OpenAI won't require you to do that anymore.
Hassle-Free ChatGPT
Of all the chatbots that can be used right now, ChatGPT is arguably the most well-known of the bunch. OpenAI's chatbot popularized the use of generative AI and other companies have followed since, effectively jumpstarting the AI race.
Anyone can use the free version of ChatGPT, but it previously required users to create an OpenAI account or register using an email address, a Google account, a Microsoft account, or an Apple account to access the chatbot, but that's no longer the case.
The AI company announced that those who are curious about the potential of AI but don't want to go through the steps of signing up can use ChatGPT without doing so, as mentioned in its latest blog post. Of course, some features cannot be accessible without an account.
For instance, having one means that the user will have the ability to save and review their chat history. They will also be able to share chats, and unlock new features like voice conversation and custom instructions, as well as other future additions.
Even without signing up, ChatGPT may still use the information provided through the chat to improve its models, meaning that users will still have to be careful about the kind of data they divulge to the chatbot to avoid security risks.
Either that or they can turn off the function that saves conversations for training OpenAI's AI models. Whether an account has been set up or not, it can be toggled off through Settings, which can be found on the small question mark icon in the bottom-right corner.
OpenAI has implemented certain measures in place to make the experience as secure as account holders' such as additional content safeguards, which block particular prompts and generations in a wider range of categories.
What You Can Use It For
There are a plethora of functions you can use ChatGPT for, which is mainly why it has been popular among users. From simple searches to to assisting in research, the chatbot can do all sorts of things that a standard search engine cannot.
For instance, you can ask it to generate essays, stories, and poems for you. You can copy and paste long texts like articles and ask them to summarize the topic for you, as well as make it easier to understand by creating bullet points.
Unfortunately, OpenAI's free version is limited compared to the ChatGPT Plus version. The former was last updated in January 2022, which means that you cannot ask it about current events as its knowledge is limited to available data from more than two years ago.
You can always subscribe to the paid version for a more powerful and updated chatbot, or you can opt for other AI tools that have been trained using more recent data such as Google's Gemini or Anthropic's Claude.
