OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT, has announced a major upgrade to its functionality that will allow it to access live web data and interact with specific websites. The company says this will enable ChatGPT to perform actions on behalf of the user, such as booking flights, ordering groceries, or finding recipes.
ChatGPT is powered by GPT-4, a state-of-the-art language model that can generate natural-sounding text based on a given prompt. However, until now, ChatGPT was limited by the fact that it could only use information from its training data, which ends in 2021. This means that it could not answer questions or requests that require up-to-date or specialized knowledge.
To overcome this limitation, OpenAI has introduced plug-ins, which are modules that can connect ChatGPT to external sources of data and services. For example, the Browsing plug-in allows ChatGPT to search the web and retrieve relevant information for the user. The Expedia plug-in allows ChatGPT to find and book flights and hotels. The Instacart plug-in allows ChatGPT to order groceries based on a recipe.
OpenAI says that plug-ins will not only make ChatGPT more useful and versatile, but also more engaging and conversational. For instance, ChatGPT can explain its reasoning and sources when providing information or suggestions. It can also ask for feedback and preferences from the user to tailor its responses.
The company says that plug-ins are still in an experimental stage and will be initially available to a small set of developers and ChatGPT Plus users. It also says that it has implemented several safeguards to prevent misuse or abuse of the plug-ins, such as limiting the scope and frequency of actions that ChatGPT can perform.
OpenAI hopes that plug-ins will open up new possibilities for generative AI and chatbots.
