ChatGPT is one of the biggest technology revelations of recent times. Its use cases are seemingly endless. From students and high school teachers to programmers and writers, everyone is finding a good use for ChatGPT.

However, as we all struggle to make sense of this new trendy chatbot, there are certain questions that might need to be answered. We've put together some of the most pressing questions and answers you might have about ChatGPT.

1. What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a conversational AI chatbot created by OpenAI. It is designed to answer questions, provide information, solve a range of problems, and communicate the response back to you in a human-like manner.

You can think of ChatGPT as someone who has read extensively about different subjects. When you ask ChatGPT a question, it searches through its memory to find relevant information (based on what it has "read" in the past) and uses it to generate a response.

In this sense, ChatGPT is like a very knowledgeable and well-read human who can engage in conversation with you, but without the constraints of a physical body, emotions, or other human limitations.

2. How Accurate Is ChatGPT?

According to OpenAI, ChatGPT's answers can sometimes be misleading, inaccurate, and untruthful. However, don't be discouraged. ChatGPT can also be incredibly accurate for the bulk of simple to moderately complex questions you'll throw at it. It is especially impressive if it has been exposed to (i.e trained) a lot of training data on the subject.

Unfortunately, you can't really predict its accuracy. For example, you could ask ChatGPT to write a computer program to solve a complex problem, and it would provide impressively accurate results.

However, a simple math question with a bit of twisted logic could break the AI model.

You would think a model smart enough to write a computer program would solve a simple arithmetic problem in a heartbeat. However, it could fail for a number of reasons, especially if it doesn't have enough training on that particular nuance of arithmetic.

Another serious limitation to ChatGPT's accuracy is that the AI model cannot access the internet on its own to retrieve data. So, if you ask it a question that requires a knowledge of recent or real-time events, ChatGPT is almost certainly going to fail. We asked ChatGPT who won the 2022 FIFA World Cup and here's its response:

Unfortunately, on some occasions, ChatGPT might still try to confidently spout out wrong answers that look convincing enough.

This is why relying on ChatGPT for answers or help on subjects or problems that you're not an expert in, especially those where accuracy is critical, could be a costly mistake. ChatGPT has an impressive accuracy for an AI model, but it is invariably dumber than most people realize.

3. Does ChatGPT Store Your Conversations?

Unfortunately, yes. OpenAI stores data that's generated when you interact with ChatGPT. According to OpenAI, the content generated by your interaction with ChatGPT is used to "improve" the AI model and could be reviewed by human AI trainers. In simple terms, someone could eventually be reading through the excerpts of your conversations.

Do not share any confidential information with ChatGPT. If you've done so in the past, you can delete your account data by sending an email to deletion@openai.com. Use "Account Deletion Request" as your subject and include "Please delete my account" in the body of the email. You'll receive a confirmation email once your request has been completed.

4. Is ChatGPT Safe?

One of the most impressive qualities of ChatGPT is the efforts the OpenAI team has invested to make the chatbot safe. Although there were a lot of safety issues in the first few days of ChatGPT's public unveiling, a considerable number of such safety concerns have been addressed.

However, as much as ChatGPT tries to be safe, it is still a prototype AI model and a lot of things could go wrong. Don't take medical or legal advice from ChatGPT, and perhaps more importantly, don't allow minors who are likely to accept ChatGPT's advice at first value, to use the AI model without supervision.

5. Is ChatGPT Free?

For now, yes. Unfortunately, the kind of work needed to keep technology as powerful as ChatGPT in operation requires an eye-watering amount of money. Building, training, and fine-tuning AI models like GPT 3.5 (which ChatGPT is built on), is also incredibly costly. OpenAI currently foots the bills with no cost to the end users. However, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman has warned that the company will have to monetize ChatGPT at some point.

6. What Can You Do With ChatGPT?

The list of things you can do with ChatGPT is almost endless. If it's a problem that can be presented in a written form, there's a good chance that ChatGPT can help you solve it.

From writing essays, emails, resumes, songs, and computer software to explaining complex topics in almost any field, ChatGPT is a jack of all trades. We couldn't resist the urge to ask ChatGPT about its abilities, and here's what it had to say:

It couldn't have conjured up a better explanation.

7. Will ChatGPT Replace Google Search?

There's been a lot of chatter about ChatGPT replacing Google. Seeing its capabilities, it's not surprising why a lot of people would think so. However, ChatGPT will not replace Google Search, or any search engine for that matter—at least not anytime soon.

ChatGPT can not crawl the web, and it can not index web pages like search engines. Worst off, ChatGPT does not have real-time access to the internet. The current iteration of ChatGPT has a knowledge base cut-off date of 2021. This means it would have no clue of any event that happened after that date. Google on the other hand is like the "go-to guy" for what happened a few minutes ago.

Instead, there's fertile ground for a lot of products that can utilize the power of both technologies to create truly amazing products. There are already some ChatGPT Chrome extensions that integrate with Google search. And then, then there's Chatsonic, a blend of ChatGPT powers, Google Knowledge Graph, and some proprietary AI technology.

However, we must admit that you can never confidently predict the trajectory of technology. Things may change in the long run, but for now, Google Search is in a world of its own.

8. Will ChatGPT Replace You at Work?

There are a lot of good arguments to support this idea. They can write computer programs, articles, and emails, and even act like a human customer support representative. So, are we going to be retired by ChatGPT? No, not anytime soon.

Transformer AI models like ChatGPT have a hard time telling facts from fiction. They aren't intelligent in the real sense of the word, they are just incredibly good at predicting the sequence of words that should come next to create responses that make sense.

Think of the auto-correct and auto-complete features on your smartphone. Your smartphones can't tell what you want to type. It just predicts which sequence of words would make more sense and in what order based on what you've typed already. That's how some Transformer AI model works, but they are incredibly better at their prediction game.

Another issue is safety concerns. How can an AI model take your job when it can't tell facts from fiction? Would you trust an AI model that's known to make errors for legal advice? Would you allow it to write code for mission-critical software? Would you trust it to handle your customer's query with a human-level response? Would you allow it to write instructional articles on a medical procedure?

ChatGPT will entertain and mesmerize you, but your job is safe (at least for now).

9. What Are Some ChatGPT Alternatives?

The closest you can get to ChatGPT is OpenAI's GPT-3 Playground which uses a similar technology to what ChatGPT is built on. While ChatGPT tends to give a more controlled response (to ensure safe usage), the GPT-3 Playground leaves room for less-restricted responses and even greater customization.

Another equally powerful alternative to ChatGPT is Chatsonic, an AI chatbot that does everything ChatGPT does, plus a bit more. Unlike ChatGPT, Chatsonic can retrieve data from the internet, can respond to prompts about recent events, and can generate images using DALL-E and Stable Diffusion.

ChatGPT: A Potential Game-Changer

ChatGPT represents a tremendous leap in the world of consumer-facing AI technologies. Its capabilities make it a potential game-changer in how we use technology in our daily lives. While it is currently being used in a variety of entertaining ways, it is important to remember that ChatGPT is still a prototype and a work in progress.

For now, don't be overly reliant on it, and don't expect too much from it, but explore all the goodness it has to offer.