ChatGPT: OpenAI releases GPT-4 the latest version of artificial intelligence chatbot - what does it include?

OpenAI has released the latest version of its hugely popular artificial intelligence chatbot - GPT-4.  It is a type of generative artificial intelligence that uses algorithms and predictive text to create new content based on prompts. The program is said to be able to  understand human language as it is spoken and written.

The latest edition comes after a boost in popularity since ChatGPT first launched in November 2022. Following this, people have requested it to write songs, poems, marketing copy, computer code and even homework.

What can GPT-4 do?

The new model can reportedly do a host of things such as respond to images, provide recipes and write captions and descriptions. The latest version of ChatGPT can apparently also process up to 25,000 words - eight times as many as ChatGPT. The new technology, which will drive ChatGPT in the future, even managed to score better than nine in ten humans when taking the bar exam to become a lawyer, OpenAI said.

OpenAI’s new technology GPT-4 takes over from the earlier model GPT-3.5, which had a much worse score in the bar exam. The model’s score was around the bottom 10% of test takers, whereas the new technology passed the simulated bar exam with a score around the top 10% of test takers.

GPT-4 is also able to handle “much more nuanced instructions”  than its predecessor. The company behind the technology showed it drawing a simple website design on a sheet of paper, then asked the system to write the code to make it into a reality. OpenAI also said that subscribers will be able to build on GPT-4 to give it a unique personality. The software even behaves like a tutor by teaching a human chat participant how to solve an equation, instead of revealing the information straight away.

OpenAI said it spent six months on safety features for GPT-4, training it on human feedback - however it is still prone to sharing disinformation.

Does GPT-4 have any drawbacks?

The software also has limitations, which makes it slightly unreliable. OpenAI said the system “hallucinates” and can make up facts and make reasoning errors. In its announcement, Open AI said: “Great care should be taken when using language model outputs, particularly in high-stakes contexts, with the exact protocol (such as human review, grounding with additional context, or avoiding high-stakes uses altogether) matching the needs of a specific use-case.

“Depending on the traffic patterns we see, we may introduce a new subscription level for higher-volume GPT-4 usage; we also hope at some point to offer some amount of free GPT-4 queries so those without a subscription can try it too.”

The software does not learn from experience, and lacks knowledge of events that occurred after its data cuts off - which was around September 2021.There are also concerns that one day it could take over many jobs currently done by people and Microsoft’s Bing search engine platform has invested $10b into OpenAI.

How to get ChatGPT

Anyone wanting to try ChatGPT can go to the website and create an account, which will then need to be accepted. After logging in, users will be presented with a page offering example prompts and some information about ChatGPT. The bottom of the page has a text box where questions or prompts can be asked.

Currently, ChatGPT is free to use, however, there is a pay-to-use version, called ChatGPT Pro where ChatGPT-4 will be initially available.

This version will cost $20 (£16) a month, and offer users priority access, quicker load times and access to updates and new features before anyone else.