What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot capable of having conversations with people and generating unique, human-like text responses. Powered by large language models (LLMs) trained on vast amounts of data from the internet, ChatGPT can answer questions, compose essays, generate images and write code in a fluent and natural way. 

The GPT in ChatGPT stands for “general pre-trained transformer,” which is an AI model that uses deep learning and natural language processing to generate natural, human-like text based on a given text input. In short, ChatGPT “allows us to talk to AI, and it allows AI to talk back to us,” Jeff Kagan, a tech industry analyst, told Built In. “It’s got the power to do a sort of computer version of thinking.”

 

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a generative AI chatbot created by OpenAI. It’s capable of carrying on conversations with human users and generating a wide range of text outputs, including recipes, code and essays. It can also critique the user’s writing, summarize long documents and translate text from one language to another, as well as interpret image and voice inputs and generate visual outputs.

 

How Does ChatGPT Work?

ChatGPT is powered by a large language model made up of neural networks trained on a massive amount of information from the internet, including Wikipedia pages, news articles and research papers. This allows ChatGPT to take a sequence of words a user gives it, such as a half-completed sentence, and fill in the blanks with the most statistically probable word given the surrounding context — sort of like auto-complete. The process happens iteratively, building from words to sentences, to paragraphs, to pages of text.

In order to sift through terabytes of internet data and transform that into a text response, ChatGPT uses a technique called transformer architecture (hence the “T” in its name).

The language models used in ChatGPT are specifically optimized for dialogue and were trained using reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). This approach incorporates human feedback into the training process so it can better align its outputs with user intent (and carry on with more natural-sounding dialogue).

“It actually integrates and systematizes humans’ subjective judgment into the model training process,” Sam Stone, the director of product management, pricing and data products at real estate tech firm Opendoor, told Built In. This is used to not only help the model determine the best output, but it also helps improve the training process, enabling it to answer questions more effectively.

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Who Created ChatGPT?

ChatGPT was developed by OpenAI, an AI research lab based in San Francisco, releasing it publicly on November 30, 2022.

OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by billionaire business mogul Elon Musk and former Y Combinator President Sam Altman, along with a handful of other entrepreneurs. Notable investors include Microsoft and Thrive Capital, as well as Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel and Jessica Livingston, founding partner of Y Combinator.

Prior to ChatGPT, OpenAI launched several products, including automatic speech recognition software Whisper, and DALL-E, an AI art generator that has since been deprecated.

Initially, OpenAI was a non-profit focused on developing artificial intelligence “in the way that is more likely to benefit humanity as whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return,” according to a statement from 2015. But the company has since shifted toward a more traditional for-profit model.

 

What Can ChatGPT Do?

ChatGPT is quite practical, particularly in business applications. And it has affected how everyday people experience the internet in “profound ways,” according to Raghu Ravinutala, the co-founder and CEO of customer experience startup Yellow.ai.

“We’ve already seen it,” Ravinutala told Built In. “And I think we are in for much bigger things as this technology develops and gets adopted.”  

Create Content

ChatGPT is one of many AI content generators tackling the art of the written word — whether that be a news article, press release, college essay or sales email.

All a user has to do is hop on ChatGPT and type in a quick prompt. If they want to create a blog post about the health benefits of sweet potatoes, they just need to type in “Write an article about the benefits of sweet potatoes.” The model will then generate a draft that the user can edit and refine as needed. 

ChatGPT can also be used to generate a wide range of images, including portraits, photo-realistic pictures, graphs, floor plans and much more.

Edit, Translate and Summarize Content

ChatGPT can be used for other writing tasks beyond just content creation. It can translate a piece of text into different languages, summarize several pages of text into a paragraph, finish a partially complete sentence, generate dialogue and more. It can also be fine-tuned for specific use cases such as legal documents or medical records, where the model is trained on domain-specific data. 

Write Code

Not only can ChatGPT generate working computer code of its own (in many different languages), but it can also translate code from one language to another, and debug existing code. By virtue of its training, ChatGPT has read countless more documentations than any one individual programmer could ever see, which is why it can write code in a matter of seconds, as well as provide step-by-step explanations as it does it.

Some developers were so excited by ChatGPT’s capabilities that they used it to actually create their own apps, including a spreadsheet assistant capable of performing complex calculations in response to a simple request. 

Answer Questions

ChatGPT can be used as a sort of search engine. Instead of a list of websites, though, it’ll provide users with a simple list of answers. For instance, if you ask ChatGPT a question like “What sites should I see in my upcoming vacation to Paris?” or “What are some gift ideas for Father’s Day?” it’ll offer you its own answers. People can use ChatGPT for advice on their relationships, finances and even their health.

Process Audio

OpenAI also develops audio models, which are designed to handle complex audio tasks in real time. These models, available on the developer AI, allow ChatGPT to act as an audio-based agent that can listen, reason and respond to spoken prompts with human-like fluidity. This technology enables users to engage in natural, live conversations, perform instantaneous translations across dozens of languages, generate streaming speech-to-text captions or transcript meetings. 

Analyze Data and Documents

ChatGPT can help make sense of large amounts of information. Users can upload spreadsheets, PDFs, reports and other documents and ask the chatbot to identify trends, extract key insights, compare information or answer questions about the content. Businesses often use ChatGPT to analyze sales data, summarize research reports and review lengthy documents more efficiently.

Conduct Research

ChatGPT can help users research topics by explaining complex concepts, comparing products and technologies, gathering information from multiple sources and answering follow-up questions. With access to web browsing tools, ChatGPT can also retrieve up-to-date information, helping users stay informed about current events, market trends and emerging technologies. 

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How to Access ChatGPT

To access ChatGPT on a web browser, visit ChatGPT’s website at chatgpt.com. 

ChatGPT can also be accessed as a mobile app on iOS and Android devices. To do so, download the ChatGPT app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad devices, or from Google Play for Android devices.

 

Is ChatGPT Free?

ChatGPT is free to use. But for those who want an upgrade over the free version, a paid subscription version called ChatGPT Plus is available for $20 a month.

ChatGPT Plus offers: 

• Access to ChatGPT, even during peak times when the server is at capacity. 
• Faster response times. 
• Priority access to the latest ChatGPT models, features and improvements. 
• Ability to generate images.

OpenAI also offers a ChatGPT Pro plan for $100 per month, which provides significantly higher usage limits and expanded access to advanced AI models and features.

 

ChatGPT Limitations

Despite its strengths, ChatGPT isn’t perfect. It has its limitations — particularly when it comes to issues of inaccuracy and bias.

Inaccurate Information

ChatGPT’s reliance on data found online makes it vulnerable to false information, which in turn can impact the veracity of its statements. This often leads to what experts call “hallucinations,” where the output generated is stylistically correct, but factually wrong.

Hallucinations can become a huge issue if ChatGPT is being used to, say, write a news article, or ask questions about historical events, or get healthcare advice. Or, in the case of one New York lawyer, use ChatGPT for a brief in a client’s personal injury case (where it inadvertently cited six non-existent court decisions).

Instead of asking for clarification on an ambiguous question, or saying that it doesn’t know the answer, ChatGPT will just take a guess at what the question means and what the answer should be. And, because the model is able to produce incorrect information in such an eloquent way, the fallacies are hard to spot and control. 

Biased Responses

ChatGPT also produces biased results. Most people know that, just because something is on the internet, that doesn’t make it true. Racism, sexism and all manner of prejudices run rampant online, and it is up to the individual to decide how much weight to give it. ChatGPT doesn’t have that ability. So, despite the guardrails OpenAI has put in place to prevent it, the chatbot still has a tendency to let biases creep into its outputs. 

“There are things that have existed in the past that these statistically oriented models will then pick up on, but we don’t want to project those associations into the future. It’s especially dangerous if we don’t even know what those associations are,” Stone said. “We’ve got to be really careful.” 

Job Disruption

From marketers to software engineers, professionals across a variety of industries are worried ChatGPT could take their jobs. So far, however, research suggests AI is more likely to transform jobs than eliminate them outright. According to Anthropic’s 2026 Economic Index, AI is currently used slightly more for augmentation than automation, with workers relying on tools like ChatGPT to assist with writing, coding, research and data analysis rather than fully handing off those tasks.

But that doesn’t mean every occupation is equally insulated. Anthropic’s research has also found that roles involving repetitive, data-heavy or rules-based work — including programming, customer service, data entry, market research and financial analysis — face a higher risk of disruption. Entry-level workers may be particularly vulnerable, as tools like ChatGPT can increasingly perform tasks traditionally assigned to junior employees.

Still, there remains a significant gap between what this technology is capable of doing and what organizations are actually willing to automate. Concerns about accuracy, reliability and oversight continue to limit adoption, particularly for high-stakes work.

Plagiarism

ChatGPT’s impressive writing abilities have not gone without some controversy. Teachers are concerned that students will use it to cheat, prompting some schools to completely block access to it. And several authors and journalists have sued OpenAI for copyright infringement, claiming their work was scraped from the internet and used as training data without their permission.

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Notable ChatGPT Updates

Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has undergone a slate of significant updates adding new features or enhancing existing capabilities, including:

OpenAI Limits GPT-5.6 Rollout at Government’s Request (June 2026)

OpenAI delayed the broad release of its new GPT-5.6 family of models — Sol, Terra and Luna — after the Trump administration asked the company to limit access to a small group of government-approved partners while officials evaluate potential national security risks. The move follows increased federal scrutiny of frontier AI models, including recent restrictions on some of Anthropic’s models, and reflects a new push for pre-release government oversight. Although OpenAI said it is cooperating on a temporary basis and expects a wider rollout in the coming weeks, the company emphasized that it does not believe government-controlled access should become the long-term standard because it limits access for developers, businesses and cybersecurity professionals.

OpenAI Deprecates DALL-E 2 and DALL-E 3 (May 2026)

OpenAI officially discontinued and shut down its DALL-E 2 and DALL-E 3 models, removing them completely from its API. Users are now encouraged to rely on newer, multimodal image generation models (such as GPT-Image) for their projects.

OpenAI Releases Personal Finance Tools on ChatGPT (May 2026)

OpenAI released new personal finance tools to ChatGPT Pro subscribers in the United States. The new features enable users to connect their bank accounts via a Plaid integration, and then create personalized dashboards to track spending, subscriptions, upcoming expenses and more financial metrics. With the added financial data, ChatGPT also provides more detailed responses to financial questions. While the tool is currently limited to Pro users, OpenAI says it plans to expand the feature to Plus subscribers in the future as well.

GPT-5.5 Release (April 2026)

OpenAI released GPT-5.5, its smartest frontier model to date designed for complex, real-world work like coding, research and data analysis across various tools. The model is engineered to navigate through ambiguity and can autonomously plan, use tools and check its work until a multi-part task is completed. 

GPT-5.5 is available to Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users in ChatGPT and Codex, offering higher intelligence capabilities while maintaining the same speed as previous GPT iterations.

ChatGPT Images 2.0 Release (April 2026)

OpenAI released ChatGPT Images 2.0, the company’s first image generation model with thinking capabilities. Designed with improved precision in mind, ChatGPT Images 2.0 can produce a range of complex images and supports various aspect ratios, including multi-page comics, technical infographics and photorealistic portraits. The model’s thinking ability allows it to search the web for context and verify details before generating an image to better align with user instructions.

GPT-5.4 Release (March 2026)

OpenAI released GPT-5.4, a frontier model designed for complex professional tasks, featuring native computer-use capabilities and an expanded context window of up to 1 million tokens. Known in ChatGPT as GPT-5.4 Thinking, the model is built for multi-step reasoning and tool-heavy workflows, allowing AI agents to interact directly with software to complete and verify tasks such as those involving spreadsheets, presentations and documents.

OpenAI Removes GPT-4o (February 2026)

OpenAI removed four legacy models from ChatGPT, including GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini and OpenAI o4-mini. The decision came months after the release of GPT-5 and after initially delaying GPT-4o’s retirement due to public backlash. GPT-4o in particular was one of OpenAI’s most beloved LLMs, with many users stating that the model was highly conversational and had a human-like persona. However, the model is also tied to a number of lawsuits with plaintiffs claiming that OpenAI developed the LLM to maximize engagement and lead to AI psychosis and suicide in some cases.

GPT-5.3-Codex Release (February 2026)

OpenAI released GPT-5.3-Codex, an agentic model that combines the coding capabilities of GPT-5.2-Codex with the reasoning and knowledge capabilities of GPT-5.2. The GPT-5.3-Codex model is 25 percent faster than GPT-5.2, allowing developers to interact with and redirect the agent in real-time during long-running tasks without losing context. 

As the AI industry moves toward high-autonomy vibe coding tools like Claude Code, the launch of GPT-5.3 Codex signals OpenAI’s commitment to dominating the agentic workspace by creating a model that can manage the entire software lifecycle and even assist in its own deployment.

Codex App for MacOS Release (February 2026)

OpenAI launched a Codex app for macOS, positioning it as a centralized command center for managing multiple AI coding agents in parallel across complex, long-running projects. The application introduces “Skills” (reusable toolkits for tasks like UI building and cloud deployment) and “Automations” (for background workflows such as issue triage and bug checking). To celebrate the release, OpenAI is temporarily offering Codex access to ChatGPT Free and Go users while doubling rate limits for all paid subscribers.

OpenAI Plans to Open ChatGPT to Advertisers (January 2026)

OpenAI announced that it will soon begin testing ads on the free and Go tiers of ChatGPT. According to the company, users on those tiers can expect to see clearly labeled and contextually relevant advertisements at the bottom of their searches. The company also said it is taking protective measures to safeguard data, including keeping conversations private from advertisers and excluding ads in searches related to health and politics. OpenAI's decision to show ads comes after Google stated it began experimenting with ways to include ads in chatbots.

ChatGPT Health Release (January 2026)

ChatGPT Health aims to help users understand their health data. The AI platform connects to health applications such as Apple Health to provide personalized recommendations when an individual asks health-related questions through the chat interface. OpenAI says it designed the platform in collaboration with physicians and takes additional precautions to ensure data is encrypted and compartmentalized from the rest of ChatGPT.

New ChatGPT Images Version Release (December 2025)

OpenAI released a new version of its ChatGPT Images tool — powered by the GPT Image 1.5 model — which generates high-fidelity visuals up to four times faster and shows significant improvements in instruction following. 

This update introduces a dedicated Images creation space in-app with preset styles and a “likeness” feature, allowing users to perform precise edits (such as adding, removing or blending elements) while maintaining consistent lighting, composition and character appearance across different frames. It effectively transforms ChatGPT into a portable creative studio capable of both realistic photo editing and complex, text-heavy graphic design.

Adobe Apps Integrated Within ChatGPT (December 2025)

Adobe announced that some features from Photoshop, Express and Acrobat will now be available within ChatGPT, allowing users to ask the chatbot to use these apps to edit images, modify PDFs, animate elements or apply various effects. ChatGPT will also be able to give users the option to modify the intensity of these effects using sliders. OpenAI began supporting third-party apps inside ChatGPT in October 2025, launching partnerships with platforms like Canva, Spotify and Expedia. Now, as more and more companies line up to bake their features within the popular chatbot, they may have a hard time getting people to use their product instead.

Instacart App Integrated Within ChatGPT (December 2025)

Instacart launched a fully integrated shopping app inside ChatGPT, becoming the first grocery partner to offer an embedded, end-to-end purchasing experience in the chatbot. This tool allows users to go directly from meal inspiration and list generation to browsing products and completing an Instant Checkout, all within ChatGPT and without having to leave the conversation.

Group Chat Feature Release (November 2025)

OpenAI announced group chats as a ChatGPT feature, allowing users in select regions to collaborate with each other — and with the AI — in a shared conversation for planning, decision-making or working through ideas. This feature keeps group chats separate from personal conversations within ChatGPT, where adding another user to an existing chat creates a copy of the original conversation. Initially released as a pilot, group chats will be steadily released globally to all logged-in ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro users.

Intuit Apps Integrated Within ChatGPT (November 2025)

OpenAI and Intuit signed a multi-year contract worth more than $100 million, enabling Intuit’s tax and financial services — TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks and Mailchimp — to operate within ChatGPT. With users’ permission, these apps will be able to access their financial data and offer personalized financial insights and recommendations, as well as review credit cards, personal loans and mortgages. The partnership also involves Intuit deepening its use of OpenAI’s frontier models to support a range of use cases on its platform, including powering select AI agents and improving employee productivity at Intuit.

Partnerships with Walmart and PayPal (October 2025)

Following the addition of agentic e-commerce and easy checkout features, OpenAI partnered with Walmart, the country’s largest retailer to enhance digital shopping experiences. Through the partnership, ChatGPT users will be able to find products sold by Walmart and complete entire purchases without leaving the chatbot’s interface. The company also partnered with PayPal, one of the largest payment processing services in the world, to let users pay for their shopping directly within ChatGPT.

Instant Checkout Feature Release (September 2025)

OpenAI announced that it is letting users buy goods directly in ChatGPT through a feature called Instant Checkout. So far, users can make single-item purchases from domestic sellers on online marketplace Etsy, as well as some merchants on Shopify’s e-commerce platform. The company also unveiled an open-source technical standard called Agentic Commerce Protocol for merchants to build integrations with ChatGPT, essentially making their products available for purchase within the chatbot. 

GPT-5 Release (August 2025)

OpenAI released GPT-5, calling it its “fastest” and “smartest” AI model to date. Based on internal evaluations, GPT-5 outperforms its predecessors in multiple areas, including math, coding, visual perception and health knowledge. It is now available to both paying and non-paying ChatGPT users, with usage limitations of course. However, it was labeled underwhelming by some users due its performance shortly after its release.

Study Mode Release (July 2025)

OpenAI has faced quite a bit of criticism for how students can use ChatGPT to cheat on their homework or exams, and the company.introduced a study mode tool to directly address those concerns. The new feature helps students engage more effectively with study materials by altering how it responds when it is enabled. For example, ChatGPT will offer hints, organize content into sections and create custom lessons and quizzes instead of providing a direct answer to students. According to OpenAI, study mode is powered by custom system instructions written in collaboration with teachers, scientists and educational experts. 

ChatGPT Agent Launch (July 2025)

OpenAI launched agentic capabilities for ChatGPT. The new feature enables the chatbot to start and complete tasks on behalf of the user with minimal input. For example, it can browse the web and create documents. ChatGPT Agent functions by using a text-based browser to find information related to the action requested by the user. It then uses a terminal to run code or commands, and connects to external APIs to perform real-world actions, such as booking flights or sending emails.

Addition of E-Commerce Features (April 2025)

OpenAI announced the addition of product recommendations on ChatGPT when users implied shopping intent in their queries. While users cannot checkout inside ChatGPT, they are redirected to the merchant’s website when they click on the link. The new features also provide enhanced analytics referral links if they enable their robots.txt files to interact with OpenAI’s site crawler.

Advanced Voice Mode Release (September 2024)

Advanced voice mode enables ChatGPT users to have more natural-sounding conversations when interacting with the chatbot. OpenAI initially released this feature to users who pay for the Plus, Team or Enterprise plan.

OpenAI o1 Model Family Release (September 2024)

OpenAI announces the release of its o1 model, which demonstrates complex reasoning capabilities. To kick off the start of its o1 model family, OpenAI also announces the limited release of its o1-preview and o1-mini models.   

GPT-4 General Availability (July 2023)

According to OpenAI, GPT-4 is capable of handling “much more nuanced instructions” than its predecessor, and can also accept image inputs. OpenAI also highlighted that GPT-4 scored “around the top 10 percent of test takers” in a simulated bar exam, whereas its predecessor landed in the bottom 10 percent. 

ChatGPT Launch (November 2022)

ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model, launched in November 2022.

 

Frequently Asked Questions