What is ChatGPT? The AI chatbot explained

A shadow market has emerged for chinese users to get access to foreign software tools. Kevin Roose of The New York Times called it "the best artificial intelligence chatbot ever released to the general public". GPT-5 was launched on August 7, 2025, and is publicly accessible through ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and via OpenAI's API. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that users were unable to see the contents of the conversations.

Age restrictions

Released in February 2025, GPT-4.5 was described by Altman as a "giant, expensive model". In September 2024, OpenAI introduced o1-preview and a faster, cheaper model named o1-mini. In November 2023, OpenAI launched GPT-4 Turbo with a 128,000 token context window.

How does ChatGPT work?

In the 2020s, the rapid advancement of deep learning-based generative artificial intelligence models raised questions about the copyright status of AI-generated works, and about whether copyright infringement occurs when such are trained or used. Over many iterations of ChatGPT, plus users maintained more access to better models than the free tier provided, and access to additional features like voice mode. In the reinforcement learning stage, human trainers first ranked responses generated by the model in previous conversations. Despite decades of using AI, Wall Street professionals report that consistently beating the market with AI, including recent large language models, is challenging due to limited and noisy financial data.
Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval.

GPT-4.5

Users can simply type a question or task (also known as “prompts”) into ChatGPT and it will generate relevant, conversational text responses. The attorneys were sanctioned for filing the motion and presenting the fictitious legal decisions ChatGPT generated as authentic. ChatGPT shows inconsistent responses, lack of specificity, lack of control over patient data, and a limited ability to take additional context (such as regional variations) into consideration.
It sounds complicated (and that’s because it is) and especially time consuming, but the reality is that ChatGPT can generate an answer in a matter of seconds. From here, it will then try and comprehend each token to build its response, based on what it’s learned from its training. In a nutshell, ChatGPT uses AI and machine learning to understand and respond to user’s prompts. We luck of spins casino review explain everything you need to know about the AI-powered tool ChatGPT here, including how it works, whether it’s free to use and how you can use the tool yourself.

  • ChatGPT is based on GPT foundation models that have been fine-tuned for conversational assistance.
  • In the reinforcement learning stage, human trainers first ranked responses generated by the model in previous conversations.
  • It can generate plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers known as hallucinations.
  • Some, including Nature and JAMA Network, “require that authors disclose the use of text-generating tools and ban listing a large language model (LLM) such as ChatGPT as a co-author”.
  • Geoffrey Hinton, one of the “fathers of AI”, voiced concerns that future AI systems may surpass human intelligence.
  • Released in February 2025, GPT-4.5 was described by Altman as a “giant, expensive model”.
  • As before, OpenAI has not disclosed technical details such as the exact number of parameters or the composition of its training dataset.

Model versions

In September 2025, OpenAI added a feature called Pulse, which generates a daily analysis of a user's chats and connected apps such as Gmail and Google Calendar. ChatGPT is frequently used for translation and summarization tasks, and can simulate interactive environments such as a Linux terminal, a multi-user chat room, or simple text-based games such as tic-tac-toe. These include, among many others, writing and debugging computer programs, composing music, scripts, fairy tales, and essays, answering questions (sometimes at a level exceeding that of an average human test-taker), and generating business concepts. It is designed to generate human-like text and can carry out a wide variety of tasks. ChatGPT is a chatbot and AI assistant built on large language model (LLM) technology. OpenAI's outsourcing partner was Sama, a training-data company based in San Francisco, California.
It uses a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts. ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022. Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year. The latest model, which launched in August 2025, is GPT-5 and is hailed as being the “smartest, fastest, most useful model yet”. ChatGPT can be used for many purposes, including answering questions and explaining tricky concepts, drafting essays, writing code and even advising on health queries. As ChatGPT follows a dialogue format, it is also able to answer follow-up questions, elaborate on previous responses and rework results accordingly.

  • A shadow market has emerged for chinese users to get access to foreign software tools.
  • In The Atlantic magazine’s “Breakthroughs of the Year” for 2022, Derek Thompson included ChatGPT as part of “the generative-AI eruption” that “may change our mind about how we work, how we think, and what human creativity is”.
  • The dangers are that “meaningless content and writing thereby becomes part of our culture, particularly on social media, which we nonetheless try to understand or fit into our existing cultural horizon.”
  • A 2023 study reported that GPT-4 obtained a better score than 99% of humans on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.
  • It is designed to generate human-like text and can carry out a wide variety of tasks.
  • The judge asked ChatGPT other questions about the case and formulated his final decision in light of its answers.
  • GPT-4, which was released on March 14, 2023, was made available via API and for premium ChatGPT users.

GPT-4o

This tool allows a user to customize ChatGPT's behavior for a specific use case. ChatGPT's Mandarin Chinese abilities were lauded, but the ability of the AI to produce content in Mandarin Chinese in a Taiwanese accent was found to be "less than ideal" due to differences between mainland Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Mandarin. None of the tested services were a perfect replacement for a fluent human translator. In December 2023, the Albanian government decided to use ChatGPT for the rapid translation of European Union documents and the analysis of required changes needed for Albania's accession to the EU. ChatGPT (based on GPT-4) was better able to translate Japanese to English when compared to Bing, Bard, and DeepL Translator in 2023.
Many companies adopted ChatGPT and similar chatbot technologies into their product offers. The dangers are that "meaningless content and writing thereby becomes part of our culture, particularly on social media, which we nonetheless try to understand or fit into our existing cultural horizon." The Guardian questioned whether any content found on the Internet after ChatGPT's release "can be truly trusted" and called for government regulation. The chatbot technology can improve security by cyber defense automation, threat intelligence, attack identification, and reporting.

Regional responses

Google's Bard (now Gemini) launched on February 6, 2023, one day before Microsoft's announcement of Bing Chat (now Microsoft Copilot). Their leaders emphasized their earlier caution regarding public deployment was due to the trust the public places in Google Search. Kelsey Piper of Vox wrote that "ChatGPT is the general public's first hands-on introduction to how powerful modern AI has gotten" and that ChatGPT is "smart enough to be useful despite its flaws". As before, OpenAI has not disclosed technical details such as the exact number of parameters or the composition of its training dataset. According to OpenAI, it features reduced hallucinations and enhanced pattern recognition, creativity, and user interaction.
At launch, the feature was limited to purchases on Etsy from US users with a payment method linked to their OpenAI account. It was capable of autonomously performing tasks through web browser interactions, including filling forms, placing online orders, scheduling appointments, and other browser-based tasks. At launch, OpenAI included more than 3 million GPTs created by GPT Builder users in the GPT Store. The integration used ChatGPT to write prompts for DALL-E guided by conversations with users. The Pro launch coincided with the release of the o1 model, providing unlimited access to o1 and advanced voice mode.