Last December, OpenAI launched 1-800-ChatGPT – an experimental project to enable wider access to its popular AI Chatbot – ChatGPT.
Per the announcement, the program allows people to talk to ChatGPT via phone call or message ChatGPT via WhatsApp at 1-800-242-8478 without needing an account.
To activate the bot, users can simply add up the phone number and send it a WhatsApp message.
Meanwhile, the phone call feature is currently only available to people in the United States and Canada. Notably, each user is entitled to 15 minutes free talk time every month, with a daily limit on WhatsApp messages.
However, OpenAI disclosed that it may adjust usage limits based on capacity if needed. Regardless, users will be notified once they approach the limit and once the limit is reached.
Interestingly, the firm advised that users should consider having their phone calls in quiet environments as background noise may be misinterpreted as prompts. OpenAI also recommends enabling noise isolation features on mobile devices like the iPhones.
On the other hand, the WhatsApp messaging feature currently supports text conversations unlike the main ChatGPT app. Hence, it does not provide other services like a ChatGPT search, image chat and personalization features.
OpenAI emphasized that the knowledge cutoff for 1-800-ChatGPT is October 2023. Since the version is not connected to the internet, users can only access information till the mentioned date.
The product’s launch comes as part of the firm’s “12 Days of OpenAI – Release updates” released in December.
Interestingly, OpenAI’s expansion represents an audacious move coming amid different firms’ race to launch new platforms to accommodate their AI programs. The move represents a major competition to WhatsApp’s Meta AI, also launched earlier last year.
While the WhatsApp-based is currently limited, there are speculations on whether the program would be able to overthrow MetaAI’s dominance and control of WhatsApp.
