Recent Developments

ChatGPT API

News: In February 2023, OpenAI introduced the ChatGPT API, which allows developers and businesses to integrate ChatGPT technology into their applications, websites, products, and services.

Impact on HE: Educational company, Quizlet, has added “Q-Chat”, a virtual tutor feature, powered by the ChatGPT API.

Microsoft Bing Integration

News: The partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI has resulted in the first large-scale product release: a ChatGPT-powered chatbot named Bing. While the Bing chatbot may be outperformed by GPT-4 in some aspects, it excels in its ability to actively search and conduct online research. As a result, the Bing chatbot can source and identify information more accurately than ChatGPT.

Impact on HE: Students seeking sources for the research paper in your course can find better, more accurate/appropriate sources faster than doing a search in conventional ways, such as using the library database or Google Scholar.

ChatGPT Plug-ins

News: In late March, OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed company behind ChatGPT, announced support for plug-ins. These plug-ins will enable developers and businesses to more easily embed chatbot functionality into their products.

These plug-ins will enable ChatGPT Plus to access live web data, as opposed to being limited to the information that the large language model was trained on. OpenAI explains:

Plugins offer the potential to tackle various challenges associated with large language models, including “hallucinations,” keeping up with recent events, and accessing (with permission) proprietary information sources. By integrating explicit access to external data—such as up-to-date information online, code-based calculations, or custom plugin-retrieved information—language models can strengthen their responses with evidence-based references.

Impacts on HE: According to Lance Elliot, an expert on AI and Machine Learning, with these developments, this means instructors and students now have four main ways to access ChatGPT:

  1. Direct Use: Users can access ChatGPT directly by logging in and using the AI app on the web.
  2. Indirect Use: Users can experience a version of ChatGPT (GPT-4) embedded in the Microsoft Bing search engine.
  3. App-to-ChatGPT: Users can access ChatGPT through other applications that connect via the API (application programming interface).
  4. ChatGPT-to-App: The latest addition enables users to access other applications from within ChatGPT using plug-ins (Elliot, 2023).

These recent advancements in ChatGPT technology showcase OpenAI's ongoing efforts to improve and expand the capabilities of their large language models. As they develop ever more new ways to integrate, access, and utilize ChatGPT, OpenAI looks to be on its way to creating more innovative applications (with richer user experiences) .