ChatGPT gets 'eyes and ears'! OpenAI CEO Sam Altman introduces ChatGPT Plug-ins; see how they work

OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman has announced ChatGPT plug-ins. OpenAI claims that these plugins have been in high demand since the launch of ChatGPT. The ChatGPT plugins are being introduced gradually and the company claims it is assessing the impact of the new technology in real-world use-cases.  

To build these plugins, OpenAI has invited select plugin developers off the waitlist, and they can use OpenAI's documentation to start creating ChatGPT plugins. The first batch of plugins has already been created by a range of companies, including Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, KAYAK, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram, and Zapier. 

we are starting our rollout of ChatGPT plugins.

you can install plugins to help with a wide variety of tasks. we are excited to see what developers create!https://t.co/NQ684Yp2LK pic.twitter.com/m7b6vJrj5D

— Sam Altman (@sama) March 23, 2023

What is a ChatGPT plugin? 

ChatGPT plugins are a new feature introduced by OpenAI to enhance the capabilities of their language model, ChatGPT. These plugins allow third-party developers to integrate external tools and services with ChatGPT. The company claims that these plugins will enable ChatGPT to perform a wide range of tasks beyond its primary function of generating human-like text.

OpenAI used an analogy for plugins claiming that they can be “eyes and ears” for language models like ChatGPT (GPT-3.5, GPT-4) giving them access to real-time information that can be very personal or recent. However, OpenAI has assured that the user will have to give consent first. 

How are ChatGPT Plug-ins important? 

ChatGPT Plugins enable more use cases for the AI. It will allow the language models to access information that is 'too recent, too personal, or too specific' to be included in the training data.

The ChatGPT Plug-ins will also take the AI beyond the primary use cases. OpenAI claims that ChatGPT Plug-ins increase the range of possible applications, offering new opportunities to tackle various challenges associated with large language models.

Risk of ChatGPT Plug-ins

Deployment of ChatGPT Plug-ins also presents significant new risks, such as the potential for mistaken or misaligned actions taken by the model in new domains. 

However, OpenAI has released data about the safeguards in place that will be able to mitigate these risks.

Also read: 'If you can do that...': Bill Gates challenged OpenAI team to get ChatGPT to pass an advanced biology exam and this happened