OpenAI has released a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that is free to ChatGPT users, as are additional new tools. GPT-4o provides GPT-4-level intelligence at a faster speed and with increased text, voice, and vision capabilities. The previous free version of Chat-GPT utilized GPT-3.5, which is light years behind GPT-4 level intelligence.
OpenAI says that ChatGPT Free users will be able to do the following:
The model includes improvements in understanding and presenting context around images, such as being able to take a photo of a menu in another language and learn about the food and its history. People can now log into and use ChatGPT in more than 50 languages.
Making the version free will enable more people to experience the power of AI, noted Ethan Mollick, an associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who studies how AI affects work and education. The GPT-4 that has been behind a $20-per-month paywall is much more capable and sophisticated than earlier versions, he wrote in One Useful Thing. Mollick likens GPT-4 to working with a PhD student, whereas GPT-3.5 is more like collaborating with a high school sophomore.
Mollick also highlighted the importance of another new feature, Code Interpreter, which allows the AI to run the code it writes. It carries the potential for AI to explore complex datasets accurately and provide substantial insights.
The implications of these new tools are far-reaching. “All of these features we are starting to see appear—lower prices, higher speeds, multimodal capability, voice, large context windows, agentic behavior—are about making AI more present and more naturally connected to human systems and processes,” Mollick wrote. “If an AI that seems to reason like a human being can see and interact and plan like a human being, then it can have influence in the human world.”
As mentioned in previous CAST articles, it’s time for providers to start using these freely available models.