OpenAI has opened up its conversational AI tool, ChatGPT to make it accessible for everyone to use without signing up or creating an account.
According to the company, this was implemented as part of its core mission to make tools like ChatGPT broadly available so that people can experience the benefits of AI.
But the offer does not come totally free as OpenAI said it “may use what you provide to ChatGPT to improve our models for everyone.” However, the company said users can can turn this off through their Settings – whether they create an account or not.
Announcing the development via a statement published on its website on Monday, OpenAI said:
“More than 100 million people across 185 countries use ChatGPT weekly to learn something new, find creative inspiration, and get answers to their questions.
“Starting today, you can use ChatGPT instantly, without needing to sign-up. We’re rolling this out gradually, with the aim of making AI accessible to anyone curious about its capabilities.
“We may use what you provide to ChatGPT to improve our models for everyone. If you’d like, you can turn this off through your Settings – whether you create an account or not.”
OpenAI said it has also introduced additional content safeguards for this experience, such as blocking prompts and generations in a wider range of categories. It, however, encouraged users to create an account on the platform to enjoy certain benefits.
“There are many benefits to creating an account including the ability to save and review your chat history, share chats, and unlock additional features like voice conversations and custom instructions.
“For anyone who has been curious about AI’s potential but didn’t want to go through the steps to set up an account, start using ChatGPT today,” it added.
The decision to make ChatGPT easily accessible to more people may not be unconnected with the increasing competition in the AI space. Google, OpenAI’s main rival is also pushing hard to get a large chunk of the market through its Gemini AI tool, formerly known as Bard.
In terms of access, Google’s Gemini has been more easily accessible compared to ChatGPT. This is because anyone with a Gmail account signed in either on mobile or on a laptop can access Gemini without signing up or creating an account.
Elon Musk’s xAI also in its bid to attract more users to its AI tool, Grok, recently announced automatic access to all Premium subscribers on X, its social media platform. Before last week’s announcement, Grok was only available to Premium+ subscribers.
