Here’s your guide to the new AI facet: ChatGPT plugins. Dubbed by OpenAI as the “eyes and ears” for language models, discover how ChatGPT plugins are changing the game with the new Alpha version of the chatbot.
About the plugin launch
On March 23, 2023, OpenAI began gradually implementing plugins to their AI poster child, ChatGPT. Before, this was just a part of the community’s job. Now, OpenAI wants to take note of the real-world application of plugins and make adjustments when any are met with safety issues. Why is safety at stake? Well, the newest version of ChatGPT can access the internet, hence the many plugins that scrape information from websites like Expedia and OpenTable. This integration is huge; these plugins will feed directly into the AI providing it with more access to new knowledge than ever.
OpenAI kicked off this endeavor by gathering developers from a waiting list on their website to build plugins, two of which are self-hosted and dedicated to coding capabilities and accessing the internet.
List of ChatGPT plugins
Via OpenAI’s website, these are the third-party companies that have created the first plugins:
Expedia
FiscalNote
Instacart
KAYAK
Klarna
Milo
OpenTable
Shopify
Slack
Speak
Wolfram
Zapier
Self-hosted ChatGPT plugins:
Web browser
Code interpreter
Subject to change, refer back to this Hounder blog for an updated list.
How do ChatGPT plugins work?
OpenAI plugins integrate with third-party applications, enabling ChatGPT to work with application programming interfaces (APIs), increasing AI’s capabilities.
These plugins are currently under limited availability, hence OpenAI’s waitlist, though they promise plans to “roll out larger-scale access over time.” If you're considering the waitlist, keep in mind that developers take priority on this waitlist for “Alpha” access until further notice.
From looking at OpenAI’s demo video, you can see that you can add each plugin you’d like to use, they’re not automatically applied to ChatGPT.
Once those plugins are installed, you can prompt the bot as usual and it will use those to answer your query.
ChatGPT’s in-house plugins
Although they are first-party plugins, these are part of the waitlist-walled “Alpha” version of ChatGPT. Both plugins are still considered experimental.
Web Browser
This model teaches ChatGPT to know when and how to search the web for what your prompt calls for. It identifies the objects of your prompts that beget a search against the internet and puts it through the Bing API.
Code Interpreter
ChatGPT’s code interpreter includes a working Python interpreter with a bit of disk space to boot. It can handle uploads and downloads and stays alive for the duration of a chat conversation.
Is ChatGPT connected to the internet?
As of late, yes, ChatGPT has internet integration. OpenAI’s most recent update includes a first-party browser. Before, the bot only had knowledge of information up to September 2021, making this a huge addition to its machine learning knowledge. Now, ChatGPT can access the web via the Bing API.
ChatGPT Google Chrome extensions
Among all of the interest in ChatGPT’s new features, you may be wondering how to get the most out of the bot without the waitlist. Like many digital tools these days, multiple ChatGPT Chrome extensions have popped up in Google’s Chrome Web Store. These ChatGPT Chrome extensions work the opposite way of ChatGPT’s plugins; you’ll have access to ChatGPT while you’re browsing instead of accessing websites via the AI bot.
When you add a ChatGPT Chrome extension to your Google browser, you’ll have access to certain features in-browser that can enhance your experience with the bot. These ChatGPT extensions have pretty useful functions; some Chrome extensions allow you to highlight text from the browser and ask or instruct ChatGPT with the information, while others simply offer enhanced search results.
Most popular ChatGPT Chrome extensions
The following are titles of the top-rated ChatGPT Chrome extensions (including a verified stamp from Google):
Merlin ChatGPT Assistant for all Websites
LINER: ChatGPT for Google Search & Highlighter
ChatGenie for Chatgpt
WebChatGPT: ChatGPT with internet access
Warning on Third-party ChatGPT Chrome extensions
Some third-party-created Chrome extensions are illegitimate; look for Google’s verified stamp next to the title in the Chrome Web Store for a safer choice when it comes to ChatGPT Chrome extensions.
The future of ChatGPT plugins
Safety concerns
OpenAI presented concerns about the safety risks involved in connecting language models with other tools. Mixing machine learning with third parties is a Manichaean concept, opening both opportunities and risks.
Pros
The upside is that adding these external sources will strengthen the AI’s outputs and give true, up-to-date information. This should limit the amount of “hallucinations”, AKA information made up by the AI in an attempt to create a correct response. With a fresh influx of new information, it takes the knowledge of ChatGPT up several notches, going beyond its initial training.
Cons
As for the risks, adding plugins into the mix without careful consideration could bring in harmful actions or responses due to misalignment with the language model. In other words, this could teach the AI to send misleading messages or abusive language, among a plethora of problems.
OpenAI is still open-ended
Luckily, OpenAI bolsters that they have “implemented several safeguards” to prevent any plugin-related corruption to ChatGPT. OpenAI’s team has tested ways to restrict the risks involved with letting in third-party plugins. The company has made this gradual process an open-ended one, where they invite the community (with an emphasis on developers and researchers) to join their Researcher Access Program and Evals framework to study safety risks.
Overall, these new “eyes and ears” of ChatGPT are opening Pandora’s box of possibilities for AI. Being open-source, once these plugins are available beyond the “Alpha” waitlist of folks, we’ll get to see the real impact of the new wave ChatGPT.
