ChatGPT

Launched by OpenAI in November 2022, ChatGPT has rapidly become one of the most widely used AI tools…and for good reason. However, when choosing an AI tool, finding the one that meets your specific needs is essential.

That's why we wrote this comprehensive review — to help you determine if ChatGPT is the best choice for you.

We dig into each feature, highlight strengths, explore limitations, and share our honest opinion on exactly what ChatGPT offers in terms of functionality, versatility, and much more. Along the way, you’ll also find tutorials to help you make the most of ChatGPT if you decide it’s the right fit for you.

Why You Can Trust Our Review

Our team of AI experts devotes considerable time to staying informed on AI developments and meticulously evaluating tools, including ChatGPT, which many of us use in our daily workflows.

Driven by our deep desire to help professionals succeed, we commit to providing unbiased analysis — basing our endorsements solely on our honest assessment.

• Comprehensive, current grasp on the AI realm
• Dedication to providing unbiased assistance
• Rigorous editorial standards

ChatGPT Overview

Overall Rating: 4.2 / 5

What We Like Most

• Extremely Versatile: Diverse multimodal capabilities + extensive customization & integration options
• Exceptional Coherence: Comprehends complex queries + delivers accurate & context-aware human-like responses rapidly
• Continuous Improvement: Ongoing updates consistently enhance performance & functionality

What We Don’t Like

• Support Inconsistencies: Varying user satisfaction levels + resource volume & complexity overwhelming to navigate
• Usage Barriers: Minimal accessibility features, internet reliance, & English-centered resources hinder usability + technical & prompting skills necessary for optimal use
• Data Security Concerns: While generally secure, data handling could be better

Category Breakdown

Tutorials

• Futurepedia’s Curated Collection of 25+ ChatGPT Tutorials & Demos
• The ULTIMATE Guide to ChatGPT
• Master ChatGPT in 5 Minutes
• The Best Uses for ChatGPT

NOTE: You’ll find tutorials relevant to specific use cases throughout the following sections.

Functionality & Features: 4.5 / 5

ChatGPT shows strong performance across a diverse range of tasks — balancing some limitations in areas like advanced data analysis and image accuracy with exceptional capabilities in writing and coding.

Coding

ChatGPT offers highly versatile coding support across various programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and tools, including:

Tutorial: How To Use ChatGPT as a Programmer

Data Analysis & Visualization

ChatGPT utilizes the powerful Python library, pandas, for performing mathematical and statistical analyses and Matplotlib, the comprehensive visualization library, to visualize data.

Simply upload data in a variety of formats (e.g., .xls/.xlsx, .csv, .pdf, or JSON), and it can:

• Summarize findings & extract meaningful insights
• Provide guidance on statistical methods & data analysis techniques
• Suggest & create a variety of static or interactive charts to present your data effectively

It’s important to note, though, that while ChatGPT is helpful for basic data analysis and visualization, it lacks the depth and complexity required for advanced tasks.

Tutorials

• How To Use ChatGPT for Data Analysis
• ChatGPT for Data Analytics: Full Course

File Upload & Interaction

ChatGPT’s file upload feature is a significant time saver. Simply upload files (e.g., PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, presentations, and spreadsheets) using the paperclip icon within the query bar for instant:

Tutorial: Your Guide to Uploading Files to ChatGPT (and Why You Would Want To)

Image Generation

ChatGPT’s ability to generate high-quality images based on text prompts is impressive, thanks to its integration with DALL·E. With this feature, you can create:

• Visual aids & illustrative learning material content
• Product concepts & prototypes
• Illustrations for articles, blog posts, ebooks, social media posts, & more
• Concept art for movies, video games, & animations
• Custom art for home decor, DIY projects, & hobbies

It can generate visuals in a variety of styles, from realistic to abstract and even cartoons, based on text prompts ranging from simple descriptions ("a red apple") to complex scenarios ("a futuristic cityscape at sunset with flying cars and neon lights").

However, like all AI image generation tools, it sometimes generates distorted or inaccurate visuals — and effective prompting greatly influences the quality of outputs.

Tutorial: How to Generate Images with ChatGPT (Create Art with ChatGPT)

Language Translation

ChatGPT can translate text across an impressive range of over 100 languages. It even accurately interprets idiomatic expressions and cultural nuances for widely spoken languages such as English, Spanish, and Chinese. Proficiency in approximately 50 lesser-known languages, however, varies depending on the amount of available training data.

You can ask ChatGPT to:

• Translate emails & business documents
• Decipher menus & conversations while traveling
• Help you learn a new language
• Interpret scientific papers, technical manuals, & legal documents

Tutorial: How to Learn Any Language with ChatGPT

Research

By providing instant answers on a wide variety of topics, ChatGPT's research capabilities are a powerful asset not only for academics and professionals but for exploring everyday curiosities.

Tutorial: Learn Anything FASTER with ChatGPT

Text Summarization

ChatGPT excels at extracting the main points from lengthy articles, reports, academic papers, even those with technical jargon — enabling you to quickly grasp the content without needing to read the entire piece.

Tutorial: How to Summarize Text Using ChatGPT

Vision

While certainly not as robust as dedicated image analysis tools, ChatGPT is quite useful for analyzing, describing, or taking actions based on the image. For example, you can:

• Get meal recommendations based on a photo of items in your fridge
• Identify defects or other concerns from images of products, machinery, & infrastructure
• Post a photo of your child’s math homework to get hints & explanations
• Get an in-depth analysis of your company’s advertisements — with recommendations for improvement
• Learn about landmarks or translate signs & menus while traveling

In the mobile app, you can highlight parts of an image using the drawing tool to get targeted responses about specific elements.

Tutorial: How To Use ChatGPT Vision

Voice

We’re pretty impressed with ChatGPT's speech recognition and text-to-speech capabilities, which enable it to respond to voice commands, read text aloud, and engage in conversation — all of which enhance:

• Accessibility for those with visual impairments or difficulty typing
• Convenience for hands-free interaction, such as while driving or cooking
• Usability for those who prefer speaking over writing or are auditory learners

How It Works

OpenAI collaborated with professional voice actors to create multiple realistic-sounding voices and uses their powerful speech recognition system, Whisper, to transcribe spoken words into text.

With ChatGPT's voice feature, you can:

• Verbally set & manage reminders for tasks, appointments, & events
• Dictate notes, emails, & documents for transcription
• Listen to books, articles, & stories
• Ask questions & get spoken responses while multitasking or using other apps
• Practice conversational skills in various languages
• Set up a voice-enabled customer support bot (with setup)

How To Access ChatGPT’s Voice Feature

As of June 2024, you can access voice features on the mobile or desktop app with a ChatGPT Plus subscription. To do so:

1. Head to ‘Settings’ → ‘New Features’ and opt into voice conversations
2. Tap the headphone button in the top-right corner of the home screen
3. Choose your preferred voice

Tutorial: How To Enable ChatGPT Voice on Desktop Computer (GPT-4)

Writing & Editing

From articles to poems, jokes, stories, and more, ChatGPT's ability to assist with written content is one of its standout features. It can help you with:

Tutorial: 6 ChatGPT Secrets to Transform Your Writing Overnight

Accessibility: 3.5 / 5

ChatGPT definitely offers some commendable accessibility features, including:

• Proficiency in 100+ languages
• Access across various platforms (e.g., web interface, desktop and mobile apps, and API integration)
• A text-based interface that plays (relatively) nicely with screen readers & voice control
• Free access to GPT-4 without an account, which enhances usability while eliminating financial barriers

At the same time, ChatGPT lacks a nuanced understanding of specific accessibility needs. For instance, unlabeled buttons and confusing input fields complicates navigation for visually impaired users.

Additionally, requiring robust internet connectivity reduces efficiency — or makes ChatGPT completely inaccessible — for many across the globe, and offering support resources mainly in English inadvertently favors certain users while creating barriers for non-English speakers.

Accuracy & Reliability: 4.2 / 5

Like any AI system, ChatGPT can occasionally generate inaccurate responses or misinterpret context. However, when it comes to well-documented, general knowledge, ChatGPT tends to reliably generate coherent, contextually appropriate responses. Don’t be surprised, though, if its coherence with nuanced or highly specialized subjects is unpredictable.

Additionally, the version you choose (e.g., GPT-3.5 vs. GPT-4o) can significantly impact reliability. For instance, with GPT-3.5 unable to browse the web, its responses are limited to information from its last update — often leading to outdated answers. For current information, opt for GPT-4 or GPT-4o.

The good news? OpenAI continuously upgrades ChatGPT with new features or improved performance. These frequent updates — typically once per year for larger ones and monthly to quarterly with smaller ones — ensure that ChatGPT remains not only cutting-edge but dependable.

What’s the difference between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, & GPT-4o?

Compared to GPT-3.5, GPT-4 better understands complex text, making it more reliable for nuanced tasks. GPT-4o is more resource-efficient than GPT-4 and offers quicker response times.

Cost-Efficiency: 4.5 / 5

ChatGPT offers an excellent high performance-to-cost ratio. Its wide applicability, robust context comprehension, multimodal capabilities, extensive customization options, and smooth integration into diverse workflows ensure a high return on investment from a single platform.

Additionally, offering GPT-4o free of charge allows access to advanced AI capabilities without any financial burden, while discounts for educational institutions and nonprofits enhance affordability for these sectors​.

While the entry price for premium versions is comparable to competitors like Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, the cost associated with higher usage can add up quickly for businesses and enterprises.

NOTE: For up-to-date pricing details, visit OpenAI’s pricing page.

Customization & Flexibility: 4.5 / 5

ChatGPT is exceptionally versatile. Its broad utility and numerous customization options make it an invaluable resource for a diverse array of users across various contexts.

While customizing ChatGPT does require a certain degree of technical know-how and willingness to explore relevant documentation or tutorials, tailoring its features can significantly boost your productivity and innovation — making the effort worthwhile.

Options For Tailoring ChatGPT

1. Custom GPTs

Creating your own custom GPT involves adding specialized knowledge to ChatGPT or integrating it with other tools so that it excels at a specific task. You can also search the GPT store to use custom GPTs others have built.

For example, a custom GPT trained on legal documents excels at handling legal queries, while one tailored with your company’s branding guidelines ensures brand-consistent outputs.

Tutorial: How to Create and Use Custom GPTs

2. Custom Instructions

By setting custom instructions, you ensure ChatGPT’s outputs are highly relevant to you — without you needing to repeat information. You may consider sharing:

• Information about yourself (e.g., your profession, current projects, or goals)
• How you’d like it to respond (e.g., preferred tone, sentence length, or level of detail)

For example, a 3rd-grade teacher crafting lesson plans won't need to keep specifying the grade level during each new interaction with ChatGPT.

Tutorial: How To Improve Outputs with Custom Instructions

3. Memory

Unlike custom instructions that require explicit directives, ChatGPT's memory feature creates a rich understanding of your needs by retaining details about you and your preferences as you interact with it.

4. GPT-Specific Memory

If the builder enables it, GPTs can also have their own distinct memory, but you’ll need to have memory turned on for a memory-enabled GPT to retain information from your chats. (NOTE: GPTs can’t access the memories in your main ChatGPT account.)

For example, a memory-enabled GPT that helps you find your next book to read would remember your preferred genres and tailor recommendations accordingly.

Tutorial: How To Use ChatGPT Memory With Its New Features

5. Behavior Configuration

If you’re integrating ChatGPT into your website, app, or business’ digital platforms, you can set parameters (e.g., response length, style, content filters, & more) so that it aligns with your specific needs. For example, you can configure ChatGPT to:

Data Privacy & Security: 4.0 / 5

Security is a paramount concern for OpenAI. In addition to offering multiple data control options, OpenAI maintains transparent data management policies and implements rigorous security measures, including:

• Adhering to industry standards (e.g., encrypts data in transit & compliance with GDPR & CCPA regulations)
• Not selling services or creating user profiles based on data
• Removing personal identifiers in free & plus account data before training new models
• Not training models with ChatGPT Team, ChatGPT Enterprise, or API Platform data

Despite these efforts, limitations do exist. For instance, training data may contain biases or remnants of identifiable personal information, and data is vulnerable as it travels between users and servers — even when encrypted.

Options For Managing Your ChatGPT Data

Ease of Use: 4.0 / 5

ChatGPT requires minimal technical knowledge to operate at a basic level. Its user-friendly design with intuitive navigation make it simple to use for a wide variety of users. You can access ChatGPT via web browser, mobile app, or your macOS desktop.

While achieving optimal results may require prompt engineering skills and/or technical expertise (for implementing customization features), these learning curves are manageable, thanks to comprehensive documentation from OpenAI, community forums, and a multitude of user-created tutorials.

Ethical Considerations: 4.0 / 5

OpenAI has implemented several measures to promote responsible ChatGPT interactions, including:

• Training ChatGPT to reject harmful instructions & minimize harmful outputs
• Limiting its ability to make direct statements about people, reducing the spread of inaccurate information
• Transparently disclosing training data limitations
• Gradually releasing new features, allowing for real-world testing & incremental adjustments
• Actively monitoring & adjusting safety protocols in response to misuse
• Providing developers with the moderation endpoint tool to check for harmful content
• Expanding accessibility by making GPT-4o free for all & usable without an account

Even with safety measures in place, ChatGPT still occasionally produces inappropriate responses due to biases in its training data. Because catching outputs relies on user reports, some may be missed.

While OpenAI continuously updates and refines its response filtering strategies to tackle these issues, more thorough attention is crucial. Additionally, greater transparency is needed regarding the decision-making processes for training data selection, model updates, and handling edge cases.

Integration & Compatibility: 4.3 / 5

ChatGPT’s excellent cross-platform compatibility and extensive integration documentation make it easy to integrate it into your existing tech infrastructure. It:

• Seamlessly works with various operating systems (e.g., Linux servers, Windows, & macOS) & software platforms
• Offers several flexible integration methods (e.g., APIs, pre-built widgets, & custom enterprise solutions)
• Is compatible with major programming languages & frameworks

However, tailoring ChatGPT for specific applications or industries can require significant computational power and extensive customization, necessitating technical know-how as well as sufficient server and cloud computing capacity. Additionally, external APIs that process data remotely can pose compliance challenges and may require additional security measures.

Despite these complexities, the enhanced functionality that integration provides generally outweighs these hurdles — making it a beneficial enhancement to nearly any tech ecosystem.

Tutorials: Beginners Guide to GPT-4 API & ChatGPT 3.5 Turbo API Tutorial

Performance & Speed: 4.5 / 5

Built on the powerful Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) architecture with a large context window (reaching up to 128,000 tokens for GPT-4 Turbo), ChatGPT typically:

• Delivers high-quality responses typically within seconds
• Handles multiple simultaneous requests efficiently — even in complex or lengthy conversations

While performance may occasionally lag during peak traffic or especially complex queries, such issues diminish with each update.

For enterprise-wide deployments, having adequate infrastructure is crucial to effectively manage the substantial energy and resources required to maintain optimal performance and speed.

Support & Resources: 3.8 / 5

OpenAI’s customer support is a mixed bag — with some users reporting timely, effective responses and others finding it much less satisfactory.

In addition to ChatGPT’s designated support team, you can find help through:

• Extensive documentation in OpenAI’s Help Center
• Tools & software development kits (SDKs) that simplify ChatGPT integration
• Practical tips & insights in multiple highly active community forums
• A nearly endless number of tutorials created by AI enthusiasts

Although there's a wealth of available support, its complexity and sheer volume of resources, varying quality of community advice, and limited documentation for less common scenarios can be overwhelming and may make it difficult to quickly find helpful, straightforward answers.

Additionally, resources predominately offered in English can unintentionally prioritize access for certain users while creating barriers for non-English speakers.

How It Compares to Similar Tools

Each of the following AI tools offer unique strengths and potential drawbacks. When deciding which one to use, it’s crucial to assess your specific needs and priorities.

Summary

ChatGPT stands out as a powerful and versatile AI tool, thanks to its exceptional ability to rapidly deliver accurate, context-aware responses and its wide range of customization, integration, and multimodal options.

While it excels at creative content, coding, and complex problem-solving tasks, it shows limitations with advanced data analysis and image accuracy. It also faces criticism related to support quality, data handling, and lack of accessibility features.

Despite these drawbacks, its broad applicability and ongoing enhancements in performance and functionality make it an invaluable tool for nearly anyone.

FAQs

How does ChatGPT work?

ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) that was initially trained on a vast array of text data using supervised learning techniques, where it developed a broad understanding of human language and learned patterns by predicting the next word in a sentence based on the words that came before it.

ChatGPT was then fine-tuned through both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques to excel in natural language processing (NLP) tasks (e.g., answering questions) by adjusting its responses based on specific feedback to align closer with human-like conversational abilities.

Operating on a machine learning framework known as the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), ChatGPT uses a transformer mechanism to understand context and generate relevant, conversational responses.

In short, when you interact with ChatGPT, it draws on patterns and information it recognized during training to quickly produce coherent, context-aware responses and engage fluently in dynamic exchanges.

Is ChatGPT free to use?

ChatGPT offers both free and paid versions of ChatGPT.

The free version allows users to interact with ChatGPT but with limited access to data analysis, file uploads, vision, web browsing, and custom GPTs. The paid versions include ChatGPT Plus, which provides faster response times and more features than the free version, and ChatGPT Team and ChatGPT Enterprise for businesses.

For up-to-date pricing information, visit OpenAI’s pricing page.

How can I improve the accuracy of responses from ChatGPT?

At a basic level, improving the accuracy of responses from ChatGPT involves writing prompts that are clear, precise, and include specific details about what you’re looking for. You can also provide examples, where applicable.

If ChatGPT’s response is:

• Partially correct or on-track, acknowledge the correct part & ask for more details or correction on the rest
• Totally off-base, redirect the conversation by clarifying or rephrasing your ask

Effective prompting is essential for getting the outputs you desire from ChatGPT. Learning prompt engineering tips will greatly increase your success rate.