ChatGPT has rapidly changed the way we interact with the Internet. It's the first AI tool of its kind that lets the public ask questions, seek advice, brainstorm marketing plans, and even write sea-shanties and everything in between. Now, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is opening up the platform to a number of plugins that are sure to take the AI revolution one step further.

At the time of writing, ChatGPT's plugins are still in the preliminary testing phase, but several major brands have announced their partnership. These plugins will potentially change how we browse the Internet, shop online, learn new languages, and more.

What are ChatGPT plugins?

What better way to define ChatGPT plugins than to ask the AI itself?

ChatGPT says its plugins are "add-ons that could enhance an AI like me by providing extra features, better performance in certain areas, or customization options. These plugins could help the AI become more knowledgeable in specific subjects, understand different languages, recognize emotions, adapt to user preferences, or connect to external services."

OpenAI adds a bit more clarity to this definition, explaining that plugins are like the "eyes and ears" for language models, like ChatGPT, "giving them access to information that is too recent, too personal, or too specific to be included in the training data." 

New actions that ChatGPT could perform with plugin development include:

• Accessing real-time information about stocks, sports scores, and news
• Accessing knowledge-based information from personal notes, company docs, or internal databases
• Performing actions for the user, including booking flights, ordering food, and more

Let's look at a few hypothetical examples of how plugins could work.

As many users will have discovered, the current version of the AI isn't always accurate, nor is it based on the most current information. A fact-checking plugin could help resolve these issues, providing more accurate information by cross-referencing its responses with reliable, up-to-date sources.

Or, what about a real estate plugin that interfaces with the up-to-date dataset of a platform like Zillow, to provide real-time property listings, home value estimates, a mortgage calculator, and neighborhood analysis.

How do ChatGPT plugins work?

Although there are a million and one different possibilities for plugins, many will integrate information from specific platforms (like Zillow in the example above) and allow users to interact with this information conversationally through the ChatGPT interface.

The first round of plugins is available in alpha testing mode only; therefore, there is little information about their user experience and mechanics. But, from what has been released in demo videos, ChatGPT plugins seem to operate much like extensions for Google's Chrome or Microsoft's Bing browser. 

Presumably, users will download extensions from a verified plugin shop, and they will be automatically integrated into the ChatGPT interface. Just like browser extensions, users will be able to toggle them on and off, depending on what their immediate goals are. 

It also looks like you can launch several plugins at once to combine the information from within these datasets. For example, plan a menu based on specific calorie requirements calculated by the Wolfram plugin, then shop for your ingredients online with the Instacart plugin.

As the current demos reveal, plugins will allow you to ask ChatGPT highly specific questions like "Help me decorate my living room to look like a rustic country house for under $2000" or "Suggest a vegan restaurant in San Francisco for this Saturday with open reservations for four people."

How do I access ChatGPT plugins?

At the moment, the only way to access ChatGPT plugins is by signing up for OpenAI's waitlist. 

As per OpenAI, "Plugins are in a limited alpha and may not yet be accessible to you. Please join the waitlist to get access. During the alpha, we will be working closely with users and developers to iterate on the plugin system, which may evolve significantly."

Besides a select few hand-picked users, most of us will have to wait until these newly developed plugins finalize testing and go live. There is a suggestion that plugins may only be available for ChatGPT Plus subscribers or for an additional fee the third-party charges. 

The next best thing for those who can't wait is the new ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine. It allows users to "search, chat, and create all in one space." 

Available through Microsoft Edge, the new Bing means you can ask the search engine real questions like "What are the top-rated vegan restaurants within a 2-block radius of me" (rather than search terms like "vegan restaurant near me"). It also lets you ask follow-up questions and will cite sources.

Can I use ChatGPT for free?

The short answer is yes, you can use ChatGPT for free, whether you plan on using it for fun (e.g., write a poem about your dog in the style of Edgar Allen Poe) or for commercial use (e.g., create a call to action for a business coach who works with yoga instructors).

Free use is limited to ChatGPT-3.5, the original language model launched in late 2022. This older model has a few notable limitations, including a smaller dataset and a tendency to provide inaccurate answers very confidently. 

With the free plan, there are also times when ChatGPT hits capacity and you'll no longer be able to access the chat until demand goes down.

In early 2023, OpenAI launched a paid-for subscription called ChatGPT Plus that costs $20/month. This plan guarantees access to the service, even during peak periods, and includes the option to use the latest large multimodal model, ChatGPT-4.

ChatGPT-4, according to OpenAI, "exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks." In fact, when presented with a simulated bar exam, it scored within the top 10 percent, while the previous version fared much worse — ranking in the bottom 10 percent.

Will OpenAI always provide free access to a limited version of ChatGPT? OpenAI has never suggested otherwise, but there will likely be an evolution of paid-for service plans as the AI revolution continues. 

What ChatGPT plugins are on the horizon?

Beyond Bing's new AI-powered search engine, a dozen or more plugins are in the alpha testing phase. Again, these aren't available to the public yet but are in the pipeline and expected to launch soon.

Expedia

The world's leading travel planning platform that helps users book flights, hotels, and other travel activities has recently integrated with ChatGPT to provide up-to-date travel recommendations on where to stay, how to get around, and activity suggestions. 

Plus, Expedia's AI trip planning experience will let you save items discussed in the conversation to a specified trip within the app. 

FiscalNote

FiscalNote is the only plugin specifically designed for the political, legal, and regulatory domains. It will combine its AI-driven global policy and market intelligence with the easy-to-use ChatGPT dashboard. 

Plugin users will get access to market-leading data sets and content from FiscalNote, serving a wide variety of needs, whether it's advocacy, geopolitical and market information, public policy, or peer insights.  

Instacart

Instacart is one of many shopping plugins coming to ChatGPT. Soon, you'll be able to look for dinner inspiration, choose a recipe, and then, using Instacart, add all those ingredients directly to your shopping cart.

 With only a few clicks, you'll have everything you need, ordered and en route for dinner.

Kayak

With ChatGPT in its corner, Kayak will become an AI travel agent. You'll be able to look for flights, get travel recommendations, and check historical travel information.

Users will be able to ask questions like they would a real-life travel agent and access accurate information on available flights, hotels, etc., from within the Kayak database.

Klarna Shopping

Klarna is another shopping platform now working with ChatGPT to create a personalized shopping experience. The plugin will provide curated product recommendations and links to those products via the app's search and compare tool.

You can even give it a budget or ask follow-up questions to get a more refined suggestions list.

Milo Family AI

Unlike the other plugins on this list, Milo isn't simply an app integrating with ChatGPT. It's an entirely new creation. Milo is designed as a personal assistant for families, sorting calendars, sending reminders, keeping track of grocery lists, and connecting with everyone who needs to know.

OpenTable

OpenTable has long helped people find and book reservations at restaurants, and now it's partnering with OpenAI to provide a more personalized and seamless experience. The integration will offer restaurant recommendations based on specific prompts like budget, dietary restrictions, special occasions, and restaurant ratings. 

Every recommendation provided with the plugin will come with a link to book a reservation.

Shop

Shop, the consumer app by Shopify, helps people discover new products and businesses, get personalized product recommendations, and checkout, all through a centralized platform.

The new ChatGPT plugin is designed like a personal shopping assistant where users ask questions like "I want to decorate my living room." The app would ask follow-up questions before suggesting relevant furniture and decor options.

Speak

Speak is a platform that helps people learn languages with an advanced AI language tutor. Speak's recently announced plugin aims to provide "a tailored language learning experience whenever a user is looking for a translation or explanation across languages." It will help users access Speak's language tutoring experience via the ChatGPT interface. 

Wolfram

Wolfram|Alpha and Wolfram Language are computation, math, and curated knowledge platforms. According to Wolfram, their plugin will make ChatGPT smarter, integrating Wolfram's coverage of mathematics, chemistry, geography, nutrition, engineering, and algorithmic code.

This plugin promises to create charts, plot routes on maps, synthesize speech into spectrograms, plot mathematical functions, and even explain a Pokémon's evolution.

Zapier

Zapier helps connect thousands of different apps to automate workflows. The new plugin will allow ChatGPT to automate tasks without leaving the chat. Users can ask it to perform tasks from your previously created workflows in Google, Evernote, Asana, OneDrive, and more.

A few use cases highlighted by Zapier include writing and sending emails to your list of prospects, summarizing information and sending it to your team on Slack, and managing databases in Notion, to name a few.

ChatGPT plugins: making AI actionable

OpenAI's recent partnership with several different global brands will solve many of the current limitations of the ChatGPT interface. With the right plugin, users can soon access real-time data on everything from flights to restaurant reservations to customized family calendars. 

Plugins will make the information provided through ChatGPT immediately actionable for the very first time. Undeniably, this change will once again revolutionize how we use the internet, and likely in ways we haven't envisioned yet.