What is ChatGPT, how it functions, and how to use it

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about ChatGPT, the latest and greatest in artificial intelligence (AI), and wondered what it is and how it works.

Since its release in November 2022, ChatGPT has garnered both users and media attention for its purported capacity to provide accurate answers to a wide variety of queries, as well as to compose poetry, essays, and lines of code in a variety of programming languages. Some worry that in the future, this instrument may replace us in the workplace.

OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, has opted to overcome these limitations by releasing ChatGPT-4, a new and improved version of AI that can recognise and process not just words but also pictures.

Now that ChatGPT has been unblocked temporarily in Italy, this is the place to learn how to access it, what features it offers, and how to make the most of them. We decided to put ChatGPT to the test by asking it questions about itself and its skills across a wide range of topics. Learn all there is to know about ChatGPT, from its purpose and operation to the most commonly asked questions, right here.

What is ChatGPT?

Based on OpenAI’s GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture, which was created in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman in the United States, ChatGPT is artificial intelligence (AI).

ChatGPT, in its simplest version, is a chatbot programmed to answer questions, deliver information, and offer help to the user in a variety of contexts using just natural language. Machine learning and reinforcement learning were used in its development so that it could process massive volumes of textual data and develop the ability to provide reliable and relevant responses to human input.

By making its patents and research available to the public, OpenAI hopes to foster open collaboration with other universities and academics. Elon Musk has called AI “the greatest threat to the existence of mankind” on many occasions, therefore he set out to create a universally accessible AI. “There’s always some risk that as we progress with friendly AI, we might create the thing we’re worried about,” he said. So that “no single individual or small group of individuals possess AI with superpowers,” the greatest defence is to “give the power of AI to as many people as possible.”

OpenAI claims to have received insights from millions of individuals across the world on the tool’s merits and flaws, which it hopes to integrate into future upgrades after releasing the tool to the general public in late 2022. More than a million individuals reportedly used ChatGPT within the first five days after its release, and the number of regular users has grown to 100 million in the two months since then.

The free version of ChatGPT is less reliable and more prone to mistakes than the paid version, ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 per month and remains accessible even when the site is busy, offers faster response times, and grants subscribers early access to new features (like ChatGPT-4).

The Features of ChatGPT

ChatGPT provides a wide variety of options. Here are some sample questions for OpenAI’s AI to answer:

• Write programming codes according to the instructions provided
• Provide explanations on topics of all kinds
• Solve math problems step by step
• Write texts with different styles
• Compose songs and poems

How ChatGPT Works

In order to facilitate communication, ChatGPT utilises the LLM. Using the information acquired from a massive dataset, these deep learning algorithms can identify, summarise, translate, forecast, and produce new pieces of textual and other material.

As it interacts with users, OpenAI’s AI relies on a wide range of resources, including dictionaries, encyclopaedias, technical manuals, and online writings, to learn and improve its understanding.

GPT-3.5 is the current standard after the less-advanced GPT-3 was phased out. What sets ChatGPT-3.5 apart from its forerunner is the process of ongoing refinement known as Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), which allows artificial intelligence to express itself and engage more naturally and subtly than ever before. Conversations are created in which the trainer acts as both the chatbot’s user and the chatbot itself to elicit more natural and realistic replies from the chatbot. They can use the model’s textual suggestions to guide their own composition of responses, which in turn aids in training the tool to recognise the voice, recognise text, translate, finish texts, and so on.

We may classify ChatGPT as a search engine, a chatbot, and a virtual assistant because it returns results in a text box. ChatGPT Plus subscribers get access to GPT-4, the newest version of the artificial intelligence that drives ChatGPT, from its release in the middle of March 2023 by OpenAI.

It is OpenAI’s contention that improvements in these areas have been made in ChatGPT-4. As an added bonus, it can also recognise and organise pictures. Then, the user may attach an image to the message, and the group can have a conversation about it using ChatGPT-4.

ChatGPT: How to Use It

Using ChatGPT is a breeze, and it’s totally free to try it out for yourself! Connect to the OpenAI/ChatGPT website and sign in using your Gmail or Facebook account to participate; no app or programme installation is required. You’ll also be asked for and need to validate your mobile phone number. When logged in, you may ask ChatGPT questions by typing them into the search field and then clicking the aeroplane icon. The primary panel of ChatGPT provides samples of questions you may ask the chatbot, as well as its capabilities and limitations, making it a very user-friendly tool.

ChatGPT displays a message describing its data collection practises upon login. Please keep in mind that “conversations may be reviewed by our AI trainers to implement our systems” and avoid disclosing any personally identifiable information.

In the left sidebar, you can see a history of your chats with the bot, toggle between dark and light themes, visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) area, where you can learn all you need to know about ChatGPT, upgrade to ChatGPT Plus, and sign out.