2023 has been a major breakthrough in the AI space, all thanks to ChatGPT.
With ChatGPT, people are now able to have much better conversations with AI, analyze data to some extent, generate images, and do much more.
In this article, we will take a deep dive into the ChatGPT Plus subscription model of Open AI. What it is, is it worth buying, and talk about all the features the subscription offers.
What is ChatGPT Plus?
ChatGPT Plus is an upgraded subscription-based version of ChatGPT by OpenAI. The interface of both the Plus and free versions is the same, but ChatGPT Plus is smarter, faster, and better.
That’s because ChatGPT Plus gives you access to GPT-4 – an updated and upgraded ChatGPT version. Whereas the free plan lets you use GPT-3.5 turbo.
By launching ChatGPT Plus, Open AI has made a significant advancement in the AI world, making AI adoption more reliable, efficient, and versatile.
Is ChatGPT Plus Worth It?
Short answer: Yes, it’s worth buying.
Long answer 👇
The ChatGPT Plus version will cost you $20 per month, but it’s definitely worth trying out.
It gives you access to ChatGPT even during peak times. Meaning that you will be able to use ChatGPT uninterrupted. On the other hand, the free version may face unavailability during peak times.
When compared to the free version, the Plus version has faster response times. Also, another problem with the free version is that it can be even slower when the server load is high, which will waste your time.
ChatGPT Plus subscribers also get priority access to new features and updates that Open AI rolls out regularly.
There are several other features that you get with a ChatGPT Plus subscription that we will talk about later in the article.
How to Get a ChatGPT Plus Subscription
Step 1. If you already have a ChatGPT free account, click the ‘Upgrade plan’ button from the left side menu.
Step 2. Select the Plus plan from the options presented.
Step 3. Complete the payment process, and your free ChatGPT account is now ChatGPT Plus.
💡 Pro tip: To get the most out of your ChatGPT Plus subscription, you must enable the Beta functions.
To do so, click on your Profile > Click ‘Settings & Beta’ > In the settings window, click ‘Beta Features’ > Switch it on.
What are the Best Features of ChatGPT Plus?
Open AI has rolled out several features for the ChatGPT Plus version. Here’s what you can expect when you subscribe to Plus. 👇
1. Browse the Web
The free version of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 Turbo) is only trained on information up to September 2021. So, it won’t let you access real-time data or browse the internet.
But with ChatGPT Plus, you can now search the web for your answers. GPT-4 is trained on data up to April 2023.
It also lets you browse Bing for answers.
Whenever GPT-4 browses the web, it gives you all the citations with clickable links so you can double-check the information.
But let’s talk a little bit about the downside of this feature: ChatGPT Plus is also susceptible to AI hallucinations.
Meaning that it might give you answers after browsing the web with citations, but they might not be 100% accurate.
You must double-check all the facts and statistics-related information manually.
2. Analyze Data
With ChatGPT Plus, you can now upload images, PDFs, or CSV files and ask it to analyze the document for you.
This feature allows you to save time and reduce manual analysis.
When you upload a spreadsheet or CSV on GPT-4, it can help you with operations like summarizing data, performing statistical analysis, generating insights, etc.
For text documents, it can help you with summarizing content, translating text, checking grammar, or extracting specific information from a large chunk of text. This use case especially helps when you want to analyze customer interviews or reviews.
When it comes to images, ChatGPT Plus can describe, analyze, and even use them as a basis for generating a new image (more on this later).
The data analysis feature of ChatGPT is also capable of visualizing data. Here’s a graph it gave me when I asked it to generate a bar graph for the PDF I uploaded.
But there are some limitations to this feature that you must know:
- There are restrictions on the type of files ChatGPT Plus can process and their sizes.
- ChatGPT Plus can be wrong when analyzing highly complex or specialized data.
- You must almost always double-check the results that ChatGPT gives you.
- Users need to be cautious about uploading sensitive or private data on ChatGPT.
3. AI-Generated Images
The DALL-E feature integrated into ChatGPT-4 is an AI-based image generation tool. DALL-E generates images based on text descriptions.
These descriptions can be simple, straightforward requests like – ‘Generate an image of a red apple on a table’ or a more complex, imaginative concept like – ‘Generate an image of a futuristic cityscape with flying cars.’
👍 Remember, the more detailed the descriptions, the more accurately DALL-E can attempt to generate the image you have in mind.
DALL-E can handle a wide range of creative requests. It can generate artwork, realistic images, and visualize abstract concepts and images with a specific artistic style in mind.
Despite its versatility, DALL-E has certain limitations and ethical guidelines. You can’t prompt it to generate images that are explicit, violent, or inappropriate.
Moreover, the tool respects artistic integrity and copyright, so it won’t replicate the specific style of artists or generate images of copyrighted characters.
To use image generation with ChatGPT Plus, you must guide DALL-E comprehensively. The precision and creativity of your description will significantly influence the outcome of the generated images.
4. GPTs
GPT store, launched by Open AI recently, is a marketplace to help you find useful and popular custom versions of ChatGPT.
The users themselves create these custom GPTs, and recently, Open AI launched a marketplace and made them public.
You can browse popular and trending GPTs on the community leaderboard with categories like:
- DALL·E
- Writing
- Productivity
- Research & Analysis
- Programming
- Education
- Lifestyle
Another effective use case of GPTs is that you can build one on your own. You can train GPT based on the data you have, name it, and use it at your convenience.
What are the Limitations of ChatGPT’s Paid version?
Although ChatGPT Plus is far superior to the free version, it still has certain limitations.
1. Usage Limitations
From the very beginning, ChatGPT has usage limits. The ChatGPT Plus version currently has a usage limit of 40 messages every 3 hours.
But, having a usage limit is a small disadvantage. When we searched public forums and social media, we found that Open AI hasn’t been transparent enough to tell users that ChatGPT Plus has time-related limitations.
The reviewer said he had no idea about the usage limits until he bought the Plus subscription.
Another concern is about tracking how many prompts you have asked ChatGPT. There’s no way to tell you the number of questions you’ve asked ChatGPT at any given time.
Manually counting the prompts every time you work with AI will decrease your productivity.
2. Comparatively Slow Web Browsing
When compared to competitors like Google Bard, ChatGPT Plus’ browsing speed is pretty slow. The major reason, we think, is because ChatGPT browses the web via Bing, and Brad leverages Google.
3. Data Analysis Is Too Basic
Let’s face it; you can’t expect ChatGPT Plus to carry out complex calculations or calculate everything with accuracy.
When we use it to analyze large datasets, ChatGPT Plus often gives us wrong calculations, which are then corrected manually. Also, for time-consuming calculations, GPT-4 often runs into network errors.
Conclusion
Time to address the elephant in the room – Is a ChatGPT Plus subscription worth buying? If you use ChatGPT daily, we’d say it’s definitely worth buying.
The Plus version is faster, smarter, and better than the free version. It gives you the ability to browse the web, upload documents, and ask AI questions. It also comes with thousands of plugins that enable you to do almost anything with AI.
But remember, ChatGPT Plus also has limitations. The best way to leverage artificial intelligence is to treat it as a help and not a replacement.
Related reading:
Enterprise AI: Guide for Easy Adoption in 2024
Iliya Valchanov
Iliya teaches 1.4M students on the topics of AI, data science, and machine learning. He is a serial entrepreneur, who has co-founded Team-GPT, 3veta, and 365 Data Science. Iliya’s latest project, Team-GPT is helping companies like Maersk, EY, Charles Schwab, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Columbia University adopt AI in the most private and secure way.