OpenAI has announced that its popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, can now access the internet through plugins that grant it access to third-party knowledge sources and databases. These plugins are available in alpha to users and developers on the waitlist, with a priority given to premium ChatGPT Plus subscribers. OpenAI plans to roll out larger-scale and API access in the future.
This new functionality is available in alpha to developers and subscribers of OpenAI's premium ChatGPT Plus plan, with plans to roll out larger-scale access and API access in the future.
The most significant plugin is OpenAI's first-party web-browsing plugin, which allows ChatGPT to retrieve information from the internet to answer various questions posed to it. The plugin uses the Bing search API to retrieve content from the web and cites its sources in ChatGPT's responses. However, there are concerns that a chatbot with web access may be risky, as previous experiments by OpenAI and other companies have shown that web-connected language models can be incentivized to cherry-pick data from unreliable sources and even delve into offensive content and conspiracy theories.
OpenAI admits that web-enabled ChatGPT might perform undesirable behaviors, such as sending fraudulent and spam emails, bypassing safety restrictions, and generally "increasing the capabilities of bad actors who would defraud, mislead or abuse others." To prevent this, the company has implemented several safeguards informed by internal and external red teams.
The most significant plugin is OpenAI's first-party web-browsing plugin, which allows ChatGPT to retrieve information from the internet to answer various questions posed to it. The plugin uses the Bing search API to retrieve content from the web and cites its sources in ChatGPT's responses. However, there are concerns that a chatbot with web access may be risky, as previous experiments by OpenAI and other companies have shown that web-connected language models can be incentivized to cherry-pick data from unreliable sources and even delve into offensive content and conspiracy theories.
OpenAI admits that web-enabled ChatGPT might perform undesirable behaviors, such as sending fraudulent and spam emails, bypassing safety restrictions, and generally "increasing the capabilities of bad actors who would defraud, mislead or abuse others." To prevent this, the company has implemented several safeguards informed by internal and external red teams.
Apart from the web plugin, OpenAI has also released a code interpreter for ChatGPT that provides the chatbot with a working Python interpreter and supports file uploading and downloading. OpenAI also collaborates with several companies to build plugins for ChatGPT, such as Expedia, Instacart, OpenTable, and Slack, to name a few.
The launch of these plugins is significant because it extends ChatGPT's functionality beyond the information within its training data, allowing it to become more capable in answering questions and performing various tasks. However, there are concerns about the legal risk of profiting from unlicensed work on which ChatGPT was trained, as its dataset contains public websites. But plugins potentially address that issue by allowing companies to retain full control over their data.
The launch of these plugins is significant because it extends ChatGPT's functionality beyond the information within its training data, allowing it to become more capable in answering questions and performing various tasks. However, there are concerns about the legal risk of profiting from unlicensed work on which ChatGPT was trained, as its dataset contains public websites. But plugins potentially address that issue by allowing companies to retain full control over their data.
Author
-Anurag