The spring update from OpenAI has been eagerly anticipated by everyone in the industry. Various rumours circulated, but what was unveiled yesterday clearly shows OpenAI's commitment to leading the field. While the slew of new features for free users will grab the headlines, it's the emphasis on making the technology more accessible and human-like that truly stands out to me.
ChatGPT just got even more accessible for all
In our courses, the very first thing we cover is that this is the most accessible technology ever built. And it just got a lot more accessible. Central to this is ChatGPT-4o (the "o" stands for Omni), which can reason with speech, vision (video and image), text, and audio in real time, thanks to improvements in how the model operates.
The big takeaway from the video above is that ChatGPT has also received a personality upgrade, making its communication much more human-like. After all, AI is about simulating human intelligence.
It appears to me that OpenAI’s focus is clearly on winning users and gaining market share. They're not too fussed about monetisation at this stage (much like Google in its early days). This is why they have upgraded not only the large language model (LLM) behind the free version but also added many new features.
New Features for Free Users
Free users now get:
GPT-4o powered results (much smarter and faster than 3.5)
Web browsing capability
A brand-new desktop app (currently Mac only)
Advanced data analysis (with charts)
Vision (video and image)
The ability to upload files
Access to use Custom GPTs (though not build them)
Benefits for Paid Users
For those wondering if it's worth sticking with a paid account, here’s what you get in addition to the above:
An upgraded LLM GPT-4o (much quicker and smarter than 4.0)
The ability to build Custom GPTs (and share them with all users)
5 times more messages than before
Access to DALL-E for image creation
Advanced data analysis, file uploads, and web browsing
Above all, the new version just feels much more human. Sam Altman has said:
"This new thing feels viscerally different. It is fast, smart, fun, natural, and helpful."
I think this perfectly sums up the main change in ChatGPT today.
So, do you still need a paid account, you might ask? Well, I believe $20 per month is a small price to pay for such an exceptional tool. However, if you're a light user of ChatGPT, you could very well switch to a free plan and get much more out of it today than you could last week.
If you can’t see ChatGPT4o yet don’t worry it is still rolling out and should be available over the coming days and weeks.
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