OpenAI has announced a major change to ChatGPT. For the first time since its launch in 2022, users will be able to access the world-famous AI chatbot without making an account or logging in.
The change means the chatbot — already used by over 100 million people across 185 different countries — has removed its final barrier to entry. In accessibility terms, this puts it on a par with Bing Chat, which is integrated into a search engine and can be used without an account.
ChatGPT: No Login Required
OpenAI’s decision to let users skip the account creation process opens the technology up to a new range of people who either didn’t want to hand over their personal information to OpenAI or simply didn’t want to go through the account creation process.
Up until this point, all users have had to hand over their email addresses and phone numbers to access the free version of ChatGPT, which is powered by GPT-3.5, and create a password.
OpenAI has assured concerned readers that they’ve added in “additional content safeguards” for this experience, such as “blocking prompts and generations in a wider range of categories.”
The move definitely strengthens OpenAI’s position in the AI arms race, at least when it comes to releasable features and products.
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Claude and Gemini — two other highly advanced, standalone chatbots — still require users to create an account to use their AI services.
How to Use ChatGPT Without Logging In
Chances are you’re probably not able to do this just yet. In the blog post announcing the change, OpenAI says that users can access ChatGPT instantly — and without logging in — “starting today.” However, it goes on to say that the change will be rolled out gradually.
There’s no new “instant access” OpenAI subdomain showing up as a result for me when I search for ChatGPT using Google, nor is such an option present on the login page — but it’s unlikely we’ll have to wait much longer.
Interestingly, there’s no mention of any geographical staggering in the post or which countries the change will be made available in, which probably means it’ll be rolled out worldwide.
What’s on the AI Horizon?
This is unlikely to be the last exciting announcement to be made by OpenAI this year. The startup has already developed GPT-5, which could be ready for general release as soon as this summer. CEO Sam Altman raised eyebrows in March by saying GPT-4, the most advanced model users can access, “sucks” — and if he’s making these kinds of statements, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a new and improved version is just around the corner.
Anthropic — a startup that has received billions of dollars in funding from Google and Amazon — recently released three new versions of Claude, its language model, which bested comparable Gemini and ChatGPT LLMs on a wide range of benchmarking tests.
Lurking in the background, Grok — Elon Musk’s contribution to the flourishing ecosystem of chatbots now accessible online — also recently received a major upgrade. Just like Anthropic, X.ai has announced a new language model and produced a table showing it outperforming its rivals on different tests.
Grok 1.5 will launch at some point this week. However, it remains the only major chatbot users won’t be able to access for free, as you need a paid X subscription to access it.
Other smaller players in the space, such as Perplexity, have already raised millions of dollars in funding since the turn of the year and will likely have announcements and upgrades of their own to make. The race is proceeding at a breakneck pace, whichever direction you’re looking in.
