ChatGPT, the most popular generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot, finally has an app. OpenAI announced the new ChatGPT app for iOS, along with the promise that its Android counterpart is coming soon. The launch of the app is good news for most users who were previously either going to the Web every time they wanted to access ChatGPT or using third-party apps to access the AI chatbot.
OpenAI says the new ChatGPT app works on both iPhone and iPad without asking for any fee. This free-to-use app can sync chat history with the web version and supports voice input, which is based on OpenAI’s open-source speech recognition model called Whisper. There is no waitlist and anyone who wants to access ChatGPT can head to the App Store to download the app. However, there is a small catch. Not everyone can use the app right now.
That is because the ChatGPT app is currently available in the US. That means users outside of the States will not see the app listing in the App Store. But this might change soon. OpenAI confirmed that the app will expand to other countries “in the coming weeks.”
Why an app?
Although unexpected, the launch of the official ChatGPT app makes sense. OpenAI’s generative AI chatbot gained immense popularity over the past few months, leaving behind Google Bard in the race. Its web version was the most common way to access ChatGPT, but an app would make the chatbot more accessible. Having launched in November last year, ChatGPT garnered about 100 million users by January earlier this year, per previous estimates. However, OpenAI never announced official figures.
An app would also make ChatGPT handier since people are using it for everything from writing school homework to resumes to business proposals. And that is for the free version. OpenAI launched a paid subscription ($20 per month) to the chatbot back in February, and it offers answers to more complicated queries, priority access, and answers based on GPT-4. In other words, if you have a subscription to ChatGPT Plus, your app will likely be of more use to you without additional charges for it.
OpenAI’s new ChatGPT app, at the same time, could wrest some users away from Microsoft’s new Bing service that integrates ChatGPT capabilities. It was the integration of new AI services that made Bing’s usage skyrocket over the last few months. Microsoft pinned a lot of hope on the new Bing AI to lure people toward its ill-fated search engine and Edge browser. And it was working. Microsoft said Bing and Edge apps saw their downloads increase by 800 percent in six weeks. But with the new ChatGPT app, users would have more than one app to access it.
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