OpenAI allows using ChatGPT without an account but there’s a catch…

OpenAI will now allow users to access its popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, for free, even without creating an account. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, users have had to sign up to the platform in order to use the generative AI chatbot. In addition, OpenAI has also added a subscription requirement for some of its more premium products, such as GPT-4 Turbo or DALL-E 3.

Also Read | ChatGPT AI for news: OpenAI joins hands with French daily Le Monde, Spanish conglomerate Prisa Media

While the free version of ChatGPT based on GPT-3.5 can be used without creating an account, users will still need to spend some money and create an account with OpenAI to use the more advanced version of the chatbot based on GPT-4 Turbo. In particular, GPT-3.5 is much more likely to make mistakes or provide inaccurate information than its premium sibling.

Users will also need to create an account in order to save and review their chat history, share chats and use additional features such as voice conversations and custom instructions. The Sam Altman-led company is also enabling some additional ‘content protections’ for unregistered users, including blocking requests for a ‘wider range of categories’.

Since its debut, ChatGPT has become the most used artificial intelligence product in the world, with around 1.6 billion visitors in February, according to SimilarWeb data. However, competition for ChatGPT has started to emerge from Google’s Gemini and Amazon-backed Anthropic, which have recently launched AI models capable of competing with OpenAI’s latest technology. With the launch of the new login-free experience, OpenAI could be looking to drive more traffic to its website.

OpenAI also officially hinted at this reason in its blogpost, stating, “It’s core to our mission to make tools like ChatGPT broadly available so that people can experience the benefits of AI. 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 to make AI accessible to anyone curious about its capabilities.”