Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET
A couple of weeks ago, OpenAI announced that it would be enhancing the free version of ChatGPT, giving users free access to features that were previously limited to ChatGPT Plus subscribers. The company said it plans to offer the upgrade to users within the next few weeks, so the wait is finally over.
On Wednesday, OpenAI shared in a post on X that all free ChatGPT users now have access to the features announced at the Spring Updates event, including web browsing, vision, data analysis, file uploads, and GPT.
The browse feature allows ChatGPT to retrieve answers from the web, so you can ask questions about current events and ensure the information in ChatGPT’s answers is up to date, and even use the provided links to verify the accuracy of the answer.
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Browsing is automatically turned on when you request a prompt that requires access to the web. For example, using my free ChatGPT account, I asked, “What’s the weather like in New York today?” and ChatGPT browsed the web to generate an answer, as shown below.
Screenshot: Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET
Vision also lets you share images with the chatbot to get more advanced insights. For example, OpenAI says you can “take a photo of a menu in another language and talk to GPT-4o to translate it, learn about the history and significance of the food, and get recommendations.”
As the name suggests, the data analytics feature now allows free users to use ChatGPT to gain insights, create interactive graphs, and visualize data – all features that were previously exclusive to ChatGPT Plus subscribers. File uploading allows you to upload spreadsheets, documents, presentations, research papers, PDFs, and more, and use ChatGPT to analyze, interpret, transform, and extract information from them.
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Finally, free users will now have access to GPT via the GPT Store, where they can try out chatbots tailored to specific purposes and tasks, such as AllTrails GPT, which helps you find a trail for your next outdoor adventure, and Canva GPT, which helps you design your project.
All these additional free features make the chatbot’s $20/month premium subscription option, ChatGPT Plus, a little less appealing. However, the subscription does come with some perks, which you can learn more about here.
