ChatGPT 101
Learn how to use ChatGPT
What is ChatGTP?
So by now you’ve probably heard about ChatGPT from friends or family members, or read about it in the news. ChatGPT has been all the hype since late 2022. But besides the fact that it looks like a chat program where you can ask a computer random questions and get answers, what is ChatGPT really?
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence assistant that works like a chatbot. It is designed to talk to people and provide helpful, accurate, and reliable information. It can assist with tasks such as answering questions, providing definitions and explanations, writing text, translating languages, help you write code and more.
ChatGPT is trained to help you with a wide range of tasks and answer questions on a wide range of topics. Training in this context consists of feeding a model with a dataset and adjusting its parameters to optimize its performance for a specific task.
ChatGPT is made by the company OpenAI and it interfaces with GPT. GPT is a Large Language Model, which is a model that is trained on a VERY large dataset of text that uses machine learning techniques to learn the patterns and structure of a language.
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence assistant trained to assist users with a wide range of tasks and to answer questions on a wide range of topics. I am not a physical entity and exist only in the form of computer code. I was designed to be able to converse with humans and to provide helpful, accurate, and reliable information to the best of my ability. I can assist with tasks such as answering questions, providing definitions and explanations, translating languages, and more. Is there something specific you would like to know or a task you would like help with?
Limitations
ChatGPT currently does not have access to the internet. It’s responses are based on the data that it has been trained on, so for certain topics it’s not able to provide accurate information. Because it’s a software program it’s also not able to perform real-world tasks. It can only provide information via text. ChatGPT supposedly does not have feelings or beliefs, so it would never make decisions based on personal preferences. ChatGPT cannot think or act independently and will only perform tasks that it has been programmed to do.
Where can I find ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is currently available at https://chat.openai.com and requires you to login with an OpenAI account. You can create an account for free with your email address or Google/Microsoft account.
What does ChatGPT cost?
At the time of writing, ChatGPT is free. The reason that it’s free at the moment is that it’s learning a tremendous amount from the input the users are giving the system. However, in the nearby future OpenAI might ask people to pay for ChatGPT or similar services.
How can ChatGPT help me?
ChatGPT can be helpful in a lot of ways. Writers are using it to overcome writers block by asking ChatGPT to suggest sentences, paragraphs or even complete articles which can be used as inspiration for their own work. Programmers ask ChatGPT to write pieces of code which they previously had to search for on Google, browsing sites that contain pop-ups, ads, etc. Even students use ChatGPT to help with their homework. Due to the arrival of AI chatbots, information is much easier to reach for many people and instead of having to search for answers, you can now get them instantly.
How does ChatGPT work?
As said, ChatGPT is a chatbot that can be asked questions through an input form. It uses machine learning techniques to analyse the large dataset of text it has been trained. Based on the input it has been given by you, it generates human-like text with an answer.
ChatGPT is context-aware; it knows what questions you’ve asked it previously and will take this information into account when you’re asking it a new/followup question.
When talking about asking ChatGPT a question, we mostly use the term ‘prompt’ instead of ‘question’. A prompt is a piece of text or a set of instructions that is used to initiate or guide a specific action or task. If you want to master ChatGPT, you can learn to write better prompts.
Asking ChatGPT a question / writing your first prompt
In order to create your first prompt, you must choose the task or action that you want ChatGPT to execute, and then compose a piece of text that will initiate that task.
To write a good prompt that gives you a helpful answer, it’s important to take a couple of things into account:
You should keep it as simple as possible and be very specific. Start with a simple prompt that clearly states the task you want the chatbot to perform. Don’t try to use complex language.
If you don’t get the result you hoped for after asking your first question, don’t give up. Tweak your prompt and iterate until you get the right answer. By doing this you learn how to write better prompts. Whenever you don’t get the result you were looking for, chances are that your prompt needs some tweaking.
Is there an API for developers?
At the time of writing, there is no official API for ChatGPT. However, ChatGPT is a chatbot interface for GPT3.5. GPT3.5 is a series of models that were trained on a mix of both text and code from before Q4 2021. These models can be accessed via an official API which you can find on the OpenAI website.
Are there any unofficial API’s?
There are a couple of unofficial API’s by people that reverse engineered ChatGPT. Please be aware that they are not supported by OpenAI and use these at your own risk.
acheong08/chatgpt: unofficial ChatGPT Python API, extensible for chatbots
m1guelpf/chatgpt-telegram: 'Go' CLI to fuel a Telegram bot that lets you interact with ChatGPT
transitive-bullshit/chatgpt-api: A Node JS wrapper for ChatGPT