Many different sites and services use OpenAI's models, like Adobe Express and Perplexity. You won't always see explicit ChatGPT branding, however, and OpenAI likely doesn't take part in their development. These also tend not to have access to the full suite of ChatGPT features.
You can use ChatGPT without an account, but signing in unlocks many more features, including the ability to see your chat history and upload files.
ChatGPT's dashboard is uncluttered. It presents you with an Ask Anything field front and center with various options, such as dictation or searching the web. A menu on the left shows your chat history alongside links to custom GPTs and the Sora video generation feature. If you're not sure what you can use ChatGPT to do, OpenAI conveniently places buttons like Analyze, Brainstorm, Code, and Create Image below the central search field. You can click these to see sample prompts or, alternatively, simply ask ChatGPT directly what it can and can't help you do. I appreciate the visual representation of the former.
You can ask ChatGPT pretty much anything, and responses are usually quick. However, speed does fluctuate depending on usage. In my experience, ChatGPT sometimes hangs up while generating responses or presents an error message midway through the process. You can fix these issues by clicking the stop button at the bottom right of the chat box and resending your message.
ChatGPT is sometimes annoyingly friendly, but OpenAI is constantly tweaking its personality. You can customize ChatGPT's personality yourself, too. It's possible to specify what name it calls you, to give ChatGPT certain traits, and have ChatGPT keep in mind any information about you that you deem relevant. In general, if you don't like ChatGPT's tone, you can change it.
OpenAI recently announced a major update to ChatGPT's memory that lets it remember everything you tell it and reference prior conversations. That feature didn't work for me, however, so it might still be in the process of rolling out across ChatGPT's plans.
The buttons below responses allow you to copy, read aloud, or regenerate messages. To share a whole chat, click the Share button at the top right of the interface. Deep research and generated images also get shareable links.
Voice mode is similarly easy to use. Just click on the waveform at the bottom right corner of your chat box to get started. In voice mode, you can choose between different voices, and you have the option to mute your microphone when you want ChatGPT to stop listening. Otherwise, you can simply talk to ChatGPT, and it responds automatically. Voice mode is convincing and lifelike, just like Copilot Voice.
