There is Now an Official ChatGPT App

Many ChatGPT users conduct most of their talks within browser tabs on their smartphones or laptops. There is now a second way to communicate with OpenAI’s sophisticated large-language model.

An iPhone and iPad software called ChatGPT was made available this week by OpenAI. (An Android version is forthcoming.) You can sort of converse with it, it’s free, and it syncs with your chat history. The experience is rather simple; in other words, don’t expect it to converse with you in the same way that Siri or Alexa do. However, you may blurt out things for the app to transcribe and reply to.

As with every launch, there are several restrictions with this one: The most advanced big language model from OpenAI, GPT-4, which needs a monthly membership, is not available. (Don’t even consider paying if you’re just hoping to get a sense of how these AI-powered bots operate.)However, it will be difficult for many consumers to resist the allure of a free, straightforward software that provides access to a really smart chatbot. We suggest? Have fun with it, but consider these issues before downloading anything.

Which ChatGPT application is authentic?

The symbol for the official app, which is simply named “ChatGPT,” is a black-and-white rendition of OpenAI’s flowery emblem that appears on your homescreen and in the App Store. It is free, and nowhere on its App Store listing is the phrase “In-App Purchases” mentioned.

Do not accept alternatives. Although it may seem like we’re being overly picky, there’s a valid reason for that: You can search for “ChatGPT” on the App Store and get a ton of results, many of which proudly claim to be “powered by ChatGPT.” It’s true that software developers are permitted to develop applications and features that use OpenAI’s language models. (The controversial MyAI system on Snapchat is one example.)

But in order to access ChatGPT and create their own chat applications to participate in the AI hype cycle, developers must pay a fee, which means that you will be charged. That frequently takes the shape of membership fees, and at least a few of these software creators attempt to obtain your money through dubious free trial offers.

Does ChatGPT pay attention to you?

You may speak a query or prompt aloud for ChatGPT to consider by tapping the inconspicuous dictation button inside the text field for messages on the app. What else is it listening to, though?

We understand the fear since, despite the facts indicating that our phones aren’t always listening to us, it’s easy to come up with excuses for feeling differently. (I started receiving advertisements for funeral brochures this week after having a lighthearted conversation with my boyfriend about cremation.)

There isn’t much evidence based on what we’ve seen so far that the ChatGPT app is listening to you more carefully than any other app on your phone. You may ensure that only the things you wish to be heard finally get transformed into text by manually starting and stopping a voice recording for transcription.

However, OpenAI’s speech recognition component is inoperable while you aren’t online, indicating that your voice recordings are hurriedly sent to a server for processing. (A request for comment from OpenAI did not receive a prompt response.) That may not seem right to everyone, but many prior smart speakers performed the same thing, so it’s not necessary a deal-breaker.

Thankfully, a solution exists. You may utilize iOS’s built-in Dictation tool to transcribe your requests without transmitting recordings of your voice somewhere as the majority of more recent iPhones conduct speech recognition directly on-device.

How does this affect your right to privacy?

Although the app has garnered a lot of attention since its release, using ChatGPT on an iPhone doesn’t feel all that different from doing so in a web browser.

Furthermore, utilizing the app isn’t significantly more advantageous than conversing on OpenAI’s website unless you were particularly interested in experimenting with the speech-to-text capability.

But you still need to exercise caution. Although OpenAI has previously assured The Washington Post that it does not utilize chatbot interactions to create user profiles or for advertising, it nevertheless keeps the messages you send it so that it can develop its language models. To put it another way, OpenAI explicitly advises users against disclosing any sensitive or very personal information when utilizing ChatGPT.

One additional aspect of the app causes us to halt momentarily. There is a “chat history and model training” option that you may manually turn off if you do not want OpenAI to preserve your chats and use them to train those language models further. After you do that, OpenAI will only save your interactions for a 30-day period before permanently deleting them.

The fact that you are not automatically opting out of model training doesn’t feel great, but here’s the really bad news: That function cannot be disabled at all inside the app. People who register and utilize the service through the app are not made aware that you can only do it while you’re registered into the ChatGPT website. (OpenAI also didn’t answer right away to a request for comment on this.)