Meet ChatGPT
OpenAI's chat assistant — what it does well, what it costs, and the simple ways most people actually use it.
ChatGPT was the app that made AI go mainstream. It launched in late 2022 and crossed 100 million users faster than any consumer product in history. It is made by a company called OpenAI.
What it is
A website (chatgpt.com) and mobile app where you type a message and the AI types back. You can have a conversation that goes on as long as you want. It remembers what you said earlier in the same chat.
What it's good at
- Writing — emails, essays, captions, cover letters, speeches.
- Explaining — "explain X like I'm 12," "what does this contract clause mean," "summarize this article."
- Brainstorming — gift ideas, business names, party themes, ways to phrase something.
- Coding — writing and debugging small programs, even if you're not a programmer.
- Translation — between most major languages, with surprisingly natural results.
Free vs. paid
The free version is genuinely useful and gets you a capable model. The paid version (ChatGPT Plus, around $20/month) gives you the smartest models, image generation, file uploads, voice mode, and the ability to browse the web. Most casual users are fine on free.
The killer features
- Voice mode — talk to it like a phone call. Great for practicing a language or thinking out loud.
- Image generation — describe a picture, get a picture.
- Custom GPTs — pre-built mini-assistants for specific tasks (a tutor, a recipe helper, a code reviewer).
What to try first
Open it. Type: "Help me write a polite email asking my landlord to fix the heater. The radiator has been cold for three days." Watch what happens. That's the whole product.