OpenAI hit everyone up earlier this week with a new and improved version of ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that has quickly become an essential helper for 100 million users.
Known as GPT-4o (the "o" stands for "omni"), the upgraded bot promises to be the Siri you've always dreamed of. It can sing, express emotions, translate languages instantly, identify the world in live videos, talk to you (and itself), and much, much more.
At its core, the bot is a better, stronger, and faster variant of OpenAI's flagship AI, GPT-4. Although the brain is the same size as its predecessor, it can do a lot more with it, especially when it comes to its text, audio and image capabilities. Best of all, it will be made available to both free and paying ChatGPT users in the coming weeks, with the audio and video features coming later.
When it finally comes to these shores, these are the top things to try first:
What can you do with GPT-4o?
Here are some of the top use cases for GPT-4o, including the examples OpenAI presented at its recent demo event and examples from online AI users.
A more 'human' voice assistant
ChatGPT can now function as a full-fledged voice assistant. Think of it like Alexa, if it were able to have a free-flowing conversation based on what it can see and hear. But that is not everything. OpenAI has also tried to make the bot more human by letting it express different emotions and even identify how you feel. In demos, the bot sang a bedtime story, sensed and emulated sarcasm, accurately guessed it was talking to an OpenAI employee by the company logo on their hoodie, and knew a person was smiling in a live video.
It was so eager to please, that some netizens even joked that they were developing feelings for the female voice bot. In an interview, OpenAI boss Sam Altman suggested that the bot will always be ready to help, just like Siri, further indicating that this is the next generation of digital assistants. Based on your love for AI, you will either fall in love with it or be completely blown away by it.
Prepare for a working conversation with multiple ChatGPTs
ChatGPT users are already asking it for career tips and advice on everything from writing a cover letter to improving their resume. In the near future, you can take your prep work a step further by asking the bot to give you tips on what to wear to a job interview based on your appearance. The AI did just that in a demo, advising an OpenAI employee to run a hand through his scruffy hair and throw away the bucket hat before the big meeting.
Plus, if OpenAI previews an impressive video and voice interaction between a few bots, you could potentially conduct an entire interview between two GPTs to get ready for the big day. Of course, it will probably take some work to set up, including lengthy instructions for the two bots, but it could be worth it if it lands you that dream gig.
Organizing work meetings
It looks like ChatGPT will soon appear in many more places, including Zoom calls with your colleagues. The bot can apparently monitor a meeting, identify what each participant is talking about, direct the conversation, and summarize it all at the end.
Attention span is likely determined by the context window, which refers to the amount of words it can process when formulating an answer. Surprisingly, the demo for this perk only lasted two minutes, so it's unclear how it will fare during longer meetings.
With OpenAI launching a dedicated Mac app for ChatGPT, it can easily stick with your video calls. The digital assistant was also shown refereeing a rock-paper-scissors game and could theoretically supervise other simple activities as well. Just don't tell him to watch your kids, as some social media users advise.
Take an AI translator with you on your next vacation
OpenAI aims to make translation languages more seamless than the tools currently at our disposal (think Google Lens, the image recognition powerhouse).
In a slick demo, GPT-4o listened to a multilingual exchange between two people in Italian and English while it translated. While the speakers carefully enunciated their words, the whole thing felt a bit staged, calling into question the bot's true competence.
For example, will it be able to distinguish between different Italian dialects, such as Sicilian, Neapolitan and Sardinian? Nevertheless, flashing to a foreign menu that looks like gobbledegook can be a lifesaver.
Ask an AI teacher to help with homework
One of the biggest concerns that have emerged since the success of ChatGPT is its use in education. Some schools have even banned the bot for fear that students would use it to cheat on their homework.
So, not to ruffle any feathers, OpenAI seems to be focusing more on GPT-4o's ability to act as a learning tool rather than a large-scale essay writer. We got to see the bot help a young boy with his geometry homework on an iPad, going back and forth using the visual and audio benefits to guide him to a solution. In this segment, ChatGPT accurately interprets the boy's drawings and responds with feedback in his typically positive attitude.
The new feature may still alarm those who think AI wants to take our jobs, but as a free learning tool it will likely appeal to many parents and children.
Internet search, file uploads, data analysis
GPT-4o is truly remarkable in terms of 18th manuscript writing. I gave him the following letter and asked him for a transcript. Some very minor mistakes...great! pic.twitter.com/3JevZvd5p5
- Generative History (@HistoryGPT) May 14, 2024
With the launch of GPT-4o, free ChatGPT users will finally get many of the premium features that were previously limited to monthly subscribers.
For example, the bot can pull relevant, up-to-date information from the Internet using Microsoft's Bing search engine. It also has the power to turn your uploaded data into interactive tables and charts. More generally, you can instruct it to edit videos, images, documents and more. OpenAI says these advanced tools will be released in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, some users have already shared the new ways they're using the skills, including deciphering old handwritten letters.
