ChatGPT: Overview, use GPTs, alternatives

Eine Bibliothek. ChatGPT basiert auf Trainingsdaten, also auf Wissen.

ChatGPT, in short

ChatGPT is the chatbot brand of the company Open AI. Behind it lies a generative artificial intelligence (AI / GenAI) that answers (and asks) questions of all kinds – in the form of chats, i.e. question-and-answer games.

The official launch was in November 2022, and since then there have been continuous updates – and there’s also plenty of competition!

For ChatGPT to compose texts, among other things, it needs a) a vocabulary in various languages and b) knowledge. The system is based on various large (and thus good or bad) language models (LLMs) such as GPT 3.5, GPT-4, and eventually, after the next updates, GPT 5.

The core is the generation of text, based on one’s own input (= prompt). Outputting programming language code, images, and speech also works. Some of this requires a subscription. The (text) answers are derived from training data, which typically come from the internet and are more or less current or accurate. Whether the training data were legally acquired, well, you shouldn’t be too critical about that.

Additionally, GPTs in ChatGPT are small AI apps that can be quite practical.

Contents

Using ChatGPT

Many people use ChatGPT via the website, which is the recommended way:

chatgpt.com

is the official URL, where you need to create a login.

Or you can use the apps for Android and iPhone.

Or you can use one of the providers for „ChatGPT without email“. These are usually platforms reyling on ad revenues. It’s all a bit limited with those offerings, as you don’t have a „history“ of your chats, and you can’t access GPTs either.

These offerings are based on the API – which allows ChatGPT to be integrated into other chatbots, apps, etc.

Or you can do like Microsoft does for Bing Copilot: For your chatbot service you use ChatGPT technology under the bonnet, but on your own servers with your own settings. The capabilities and results differ greatly. Advantage for you as a user: Thanks to Microsoft you can use ChatGPT in a different flavour (with limitations) without registration via bing.com and the Copilot there.

What is GPT?

GPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer; the pre-training is the first key to success. The second key for obtaining useful results is a good prompt.

„GPT“ vs. „GPTs“

ChatGPT means something like „chat with a ‚transformer‘ that we’ve trained.“ However, ChatGPT also has „GPTs“, which are more strongly pre-prompted mini-apps. They are offered bei Open AI, Companies, and Enthusiasts.

Instead of despairing over prompt engineering, you use pre-prompted helpers. These don’t all work in the free version of ChatGPT. And, to make things more complicated, sometimes you need an additional subscription from the GPT’s provider. Think of Canva or VEED, both offer GPTs on ChatGPT, and those GPTs assist you in e.g., creating layouts / assets in Canva, but you still need a Canva subscription.

You can find the GPT listing at https://chatgpt.com/gpts

Here are examples of popular GPTs:

GPTs bei ChatGPT: Beispiele (Screenshot 22.07.2024)

So, what do we spy in this screenshot? A dozen popular GPTs. I asked Google Gemini, harhar, to explain the contents of the screenshot, with the outcome of typical AI waffle that everyone can spot from a mile away.

  • Image Generator: A GPT tool designed specifically for conjuring up and refining images. It can create both realistic and abstract pictures, offering a plethora of options to tweak the results.
  • Write For Me: A GPT tool that can churn out text in various formats and styles. It says that it’s jolly good for penning blog posts, articles, marketing materials, and whatnot.
  • Scholar GPT: A GPT tool tailored for research. It can access and process a vast amount of scholarly literature, lending a hand to users with their research and academic writing.
  • Canva: An online design tool kitted out with a GPT tool that can assist users in creating presentations, logos, social media posts, and the like.
  • Video GPT by VEED: A GPT tool crafted for video creation. It can transform text into videos (stitched together from stock footage), edit videos, and jazz them up with music, voiceovers, and effects.
  • Logo Creator: A GPT tool that can generate professional logos and app icons.
  • Consensus: A GPT tool that aids users in sifting through scientific literature. It can dig up references, provide explanations, and write texts.
  • AI Humanizer: A GPT tool that transforms AI-generated text into more human-friendly language.
  • Python: A GPT tool tailored for Python programmers. It can generate code, fix bugs, and more.
  • Image Generator Pro: A GPT tool that can create high-resolution images.

Gemini was a bit lazy, mind you. The list is missing the Code Copilot, and Image Generator Pro. Out of 12 GPTs, 2 were „forgotten“. More on VEED in a moment.

So remember:

  • You never know if the AI is feeding you facts, or ’shrooms.
  • You can combine different AIs (or LLMs) with each other.

Using GPTs

GPT access in ChatGPT? Pay, peasant, pay!

The better your ChatGPT version, the better your access to GPTs

ChatGPT „Free plan“ChatGPT PlusChatGPT TeamsChatGPT Enterprise
GPT usageSome GPTs from a libraryAll GPTs from the library & create your own GPTsIn addition to Plus: Share your GPTs with your TeamLike Team

Example: veed.io

GPTs in ChatGPT can be frontends for external services, but they won’t tell you that at the beginning. A brillant example is the video generation platform Veed.io. There’s a ridiculous number of such video generation platforms these days. VEED is intereresting, as it has a Video GPT that one can use even in the free version of ChatGPT.

Hooray? Well, no.

This GPT can pen (rather dodgy) video scripts for you, and cobble together videos on veed.io (using stock footage, complete with voiceover), but to export the video without a pesky watermark, you’ll need to – surprise, surprise – fork out for a subscription.

I’ll spare you the ghastly video generation results. On the whole, it’s meh, with the (in my test German) AI voice being at the level of Chinese dropshipping garbage commercials on YouTube. However, the style of the supers is absolutely top-notch, as you can see from this screenshot.

Veed.io: Beispiel für Videogenerierung

These third-party front-end-for-subscription-services GPTs are rather a damp squib for free users, as you quickly run a) into your freebie ChatGPT usage limit and b) have to pay the external partner as well.

A clever workaround, if I may: Instead of faffing about with the VEED-GPT, one would be better served by utilising the AI function within VEED itself. This way, you won’t be dipping into your ChatGPT „allowance“. Mind you, it’s a tad rough around the edges compared to its counterpart on ChatGPT. And always try several options, e.g. Invideo, Akool, or which others „AI“ video services are around at the moment you read this.

ChatGPT: Choosing Your Plan

You can select from various ChatGPT offerings – but more importantly, you needn’t use ChatGPT at all, as alternatives exist. For more details, including costs, read the article „ChatGPT Plus or Team – Choose Team„.

Here’s a brief overview:

  • ChatGPT „free plan“ is the limited no-cost version. It can do less than Microsoft Copilot in some areas, more in others. Interestingly, you can use a few GPTs. It’s hair-raising that your data – everything you input, upload, or generate – ends up in Open AI’s voracious data storage. This applies to „Plus“ as well! The „Rate Limit“ is truly dreadful: You quickly hit the „ceiling“ for GPT usage, resulting in a forced 2-hour (or more) break. This is massively annoying and clearly upselling to:
  • ChatGPT Plus, intended for more „professional“ private use. It allows image creation (albeit with licensing ambiguities), use of all GPTs, and building your own GPTs.
  • ChatGPT Team is designed for teams, requiring a minimum of 2 subscriptions. For business use, and imho for private use too, this is the only recommendable option.
  • ChatGPT Enterprise is aimed at large corporations.
  • ChatGPT via the OpenAI API is actually a nice option: It lets you build your own GPTs without monthly subscription fees. Instead, you pay for tokens.
    Downside: Programming effort required.
    Example for low-code fans: Create a HuggingFace account, set up a Space (either cloned from an existing one or from scratch with a Gradio notebook), and fiddle in OpenAI’s API using Python (you’ll need an API key, of course) to build an AI app or chatbot.
  • Other major providers for business use: Google has the Gemini AI, which fully integrates (for a fee) into Google Workspace – i.e., Docs, Sheets, Mail, Presentations.
    Data protection: „Typical Google“, ahem.
  • Microsoft offers Copilot, which fully integrates into Office & Teams, including SharePoint – plus there’s Power Automate for process automation, comparable to Zapier but with more „AI“ and not as truly open system.
  • Other LLMs: Mistral has „Le Chat“ (yes, it also means „The Tomcat“, they have a sense of humour), comparable to ChatGPT Free. It comes with an API that handles not just Python but JavaScript too.
    Anthropic has Claude, where you always pay for tokens. I like this, as it gives you a feel for the real costs. € 10 gets you quite far, surprisingly.
  • There are dozens more LLMs, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Examples:
    • There are ultra-fat LLMs (like GPT-4) as „Mixture of Experts“, decent at many languages and generally quite capable (reading, writing, maths, coding, images, audio…). Downsides: High computing power needed (=expensive), and they’re not truly expert at anything.
    • There are nerdy LLMs, particularly good at code (e.g., Codestral from Mistral) or maths.
    • There are slim LLMs that are a) very fast and b) require little computing power (= cheap to run). The most minimalist ones even run on home laptops or even in browsers. They’re not jacks-of-all-trades, though.
    • There are LLMs trained for „commands“ or automation – Salesforce has something specific for this.
    • For generating images and videos, you’re in the next AI world.

And by the time you read this, there’s already something new.

Conclusion

ChatGPT becomes much easier to use through the GPT offerings, as you can choose from a selection of production-ready tools. It’s comparable to buying clothes vs. tailoring: Off-the-rack shopping involves screening options. Tailoring requires pre-planning. For most people, „off-the-rack“ is perfectly fine, as it significantly reduces complexity.

Since GPTs can only be used very limitedly in ChatGPT’s free version, the fun quickly hits a snag. Essentially, it’s a teaser to upgrade to Plus or Team. If you’re considering this, you should go straight for Team – especially for business use.

Moreover, don’t fixate too much on ChatGPT: Many alternatives exist that do certain things much better. In a business context, it might be worth spending a bit on an AI consultant.

Stefan Golling

About the Author

Stefan Golling, Cologne, Germany. Worked since 1998 as a Copywriter and Creative Director in (Network) Agencies and freelances since 2011 as German Freelance Copywriter, Marketing Freelancer, Creative Consultant etc., e.g., in international projects.

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