The whole lot it’s essential to know in regards to the AI chatbot

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What began as a instrument to supercharge productiveness by way of writing essays and code with short text prompts has advanced right into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users.

2024 was a giant 12 months for OpenAI, from its partnership with Apple for its generative AI providing, Apple Intelligence, the discharge of GPT-4o with voice capabilities, and the highly-anticipated launch of its text-to-video model Sora.

OpenAI additionally confronted its share of inner drama, together with the notable exits of high-level execs like co-founder and longtime chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and CTO Mira Murati. OpenAI has additionally been hit with lawsuits from Alden Global Capital-owned newspapers alleging copyright infringement, in addition to an injunction from Elon Musk to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit.

In 2025, OpenAI is battling the notion that it’s ceding floor within the AI race to Chinese rivals like DeepSeek. The corporate has been attempting to shore up its relationship with Washington because it concurrently pursues an ambitious data center project, and because it reportedly lays the groundwork for one of many largest funding rounds in historical past.

Under, you’ll discover a timeline of ChatGPT product updates and releases, beginning with the newest, which we’ve been updating all year long. You probably have some other questions, take a look at our ChatGPT FAQ here.

Timeline of the newest ChatGPT updates

April 2025

OpenAI gives ChatGPT Plus at no cost to US, Canadian school college students

OpenAI is providing its $20-per-month ChatGPT Plus subscription tier at no cost to all school college students in the U.S. and Canada through the end of May. The provide will let hundreds of thousands of scholars use OpenAI’s premium service, which gives entry to the corporate’s GPT-4o mannequin, picture era, voice interplay, and analysis instruments that aren’t accessible within the free model.

ChatGPT customers have generated over 700M photos to this point

Greater than 130 million customers have created over 700 million photos since ChatGPT bought the upgraded image generator on March 25, in keeping with COO of OpenAI Brad Lightcap. The picture generator was made accessible to all ChatGPT users on March 31, and went viral for having the ability to create Ghibli-style images.

OpenAI’s o3 mannequin might price extra to run than preliminary estimate

The Arc Prize Basis, which develops the AI benchmark instrument ARC-AGI, has up to date the estimated computing prices for OpenAI’s o3 “reasoning” mannequin managed by ARC-AGI. The group initially estimated that the best-performing configuration of o3 it examined, o3 excessive, would price roughly $3,000 to handle a single downside. The Basis now thinks the associated fee might be a lot larger, possibly around $30,000 per task.

OpenAI CEO says capability points will trigger product delays

In a series of posts on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated the corporate’s new image-generation instrument’s recognition could trigger product releases to be delayed. “We’re getting issues underneath management, however it is best to anticipate new releases from OpenAI to be delayed, stuff to interrupt, and for service to typically be sluggish as we cope with capability challenges,” he wrote.

March 2025

OpenAI plans to launch a brand new ‘open’ AI language mannequin

OpeanAI intends to release its “first” open language model since GPT-2 “within the coming months.” The corporate plans to host developer occasions to assemble suggestions and finally showcase prototypes of the mannequin. The primary developer occasion is to be held in San Francisco, with periods to comply with in Europe and Asia.

OpenAI removes ChatGPT’s restrictions on picture era

OpenAI made a notable change to its content moderation policies after the success of its new picture generator in ChatGPT, which went viral for having the ability to create Studio Ghibli-style images. The corporate has up to date its insurance policies to permit ChatGPT to generate photos of public figures, hateful symbols, and racial options when requested. OpenAI had beforehand declined such prompts because of the potential controversy or hurt they might trigger. Nevertheless, the corporate has now “advanced” its strategy, as said in a blog post revealed by Joanne Jang, the lead for OpenAI’s mannequin habits.

OpenAI adopts Anthropic’s customary for linking AI fashions with information

OpenAI wants to incorporate Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) into all of its merchandise, together with the ChatGPT desktop app. MCP, an open-source customary, helps AI fashions generate extra correct and appropriate responses to particular queries, and lets builders create bidirectional hyperlinks between information sources and AI functions like chatbots. The protocol is presently accessible within the Brokers SDK, and assist for the ChatGPT desktop app and Responses API will probably be coming quickly, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.

OpenAI’s viral Studio Ghibli-style photos might increase AI copyright considerations

The latest update of the image generator on OpenAI’s ChatGPT has triggered a flood of AI-generated memes within the type of Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio behind blockbuster movies like “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away.” The burgeoning mass of Ghibli-esque photos have sparked concerns about whether or not OpenAI has violated copyright legal guidelines, particularly because the firm is already dealing with authorized motion for utilizing supply materials with out authorization.

OpenAI expects income to triple to $12.7 billion this 12 months

OpenAI expects its income to triple to $12.7 billion in 2025, fueled by the efficiency of its paid AI software program, Bloomberg reported, citing an nameless supply. Whereas the startup doesn’t anticipate to achieve constructive money move till 2029, it expects income to extend considerably in 2026 to surpass $29.4 billion, the report stated.

ChatGPT has upgraded its image-generation characteristic

OpenAI on Tuesday rolled out a serious improve to ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities: ChatGPT can now use the GPT-4o mannequin to generate and edit photos and images instantly. The characteristic went dwell earlier this week in ChatGPT and Sora, OpenAI’s AI video-generation instrument, for subscribers of the corporate’s Professional plan, priced at $200 a month, and will probably be accessible quickly to ChatGPT Plus subscribers and builders utilizing the corporate’s API service. The corporate’s CEO Sam Altman said on Wednesday, nevertheless, that the discharge of the picture era characteristic to free customers can be delayed resulting from larger demand than the corporate anticipated.

OpenAI broadcasts management updates

Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief working officer, will lead the corporate’s world enlargement and handle company partnerships as CEO Sam Altman shifts his focus to research and products, in accordance to a blog post from OpenAI. Lightcap, who beforehand labored with Altman at Y Combinator, joined the Microsoft-backed startup in 2018. OpenAI additionally stated Mark Chen would step into the expanded position of chief analysis officer, and Julia Villagra will tackle the position of chief folks officer.

OpenAI’s AI voice assistant now has superior characteristic

OpenAI has up to date its AI voice assistant with improved chatting capabilities, in keeping with a video posted on Monday (March 24) to the corporate’s official media channels. The replace permits real-time conversations, and the AI assistant is claimed to be extra personable and interrupts customers much less usually. Customers on ChatGPT’s free tier can now entry the brand new model of Superior Voice Mode, whereas paying customers will obtain solutions which can be “extra direct, partaking, concise, particular, and inventive,” a spokesperson from OpenAI told TechCrunch.

OpenAI, Meta in talks with Reliance in India

OpenAI and Meta have individually engaged in discussions with Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries relating to potential collaborations to reinforce their AI providers within the nation, per a report by The Information. One key matter being mentioned is Reliance Jio distributing OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Reliance has proposed promoting OpenAI’s fashions to companies in India by way of an software programming interface (API) to allow them to incorporate AI into their operations. Meta additionally plans to bolster its presence in India by setting up a big 3GW information middle in Jamnagar, Gujarat. OpenAI, Meta, and Reliance haven’t but formally introduced these plans.

OpenAI faces privateness criticism in Europe for chatbot’s defamatory hallucinations

Noyb, a privateness rights advocacy group, is supporting a person in Norway who was shocked to discover that ChatGPT was offering false details about him, stating that he had been discovered responsible of killing two of his youngsters and attempting to hurt the third. “The GDPR is obvious. Private information must be correct,” stated Joakim Söderberg, information safety lawyer at Noyb, in an announcement. “If it’s not, customers have the precise to have it modified to mirror the reality. Exhibiting ChatGPT customers a tiny disclaimer that the chatbot could make errors clearly isn’t sufficient. You’ll be able to’t simply unfold false data and in the long run add a small disclaimer saying that the whole lot you stated may not be true.”

OpenAI upgrades its transcription and voice-generating AI fashions

OpenAI has added new transcription and voice-generating AI models to its APIs: a text-to-speech mannequin, “gpt-4o-mini-tts,” that delivers extra nuanced and sensible sounding speech, in addition to two speech-to-text fashions referred to as “gpt-4o-transcribe” and “gpt-4o-mini-transcribe”. The corporate claims they’re improved variations of what was already there and that they hallucinate much less.

OpenAI has launched o1-pro, a extra highly effective model of its o1

OpenAI has introduced o1-pro in its developer API. OpenAI says its o1-pro makes use of extra computing than its o1 “reasoning” AI model to ship “persistently higher responses.” It’s solely accessible to pick out builders who’ve spent at the very least $5 on OpenAI API providers. OpenAI expenses $150 for each million tokens (about 750,000 phrases) enter into the mannequin and $600 for each million tokens the mannequin produces. It prices twice as a lot as OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 for enter and 10 instances the value of standard o1.

OpenAI analysis lead Noam Brown thinks AI “reasoning” fashions might’ve arrived many years in the past

Noam Brown, who heads AI reasoning analysis at OpenAI, thinks that certain types of AI models for “reasoning” could have been developed 20 years ago if researchers had understood the proper strategy and algorithms.

OpenAI says it has educated an AI that’s “actually good” at inventive writing

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated, in a post on X, that the corporate has trained a “new model” that’s “really good” at creative writing. He posted a prolonged pattern from the mannequin given the immediate “Please write a metafictional literary quick story about AI and grief.” OpenAI has not extensively explored using AI for writing fiction. The corporate has largely focused on challenges in inflexible, predictable areas comparable to math and programming. And it seems that it might not be that great at inventive writing in any respect.

we educated a brand new mannequin that’s good at inventive writing (unsure but how/when it’s going to get launched). that is the primary time i’ve been actually struck by one thing written by AI; it bought the vibe of metafiction so proper.

PROMPT:

Please write a metafictional literary quick story…

— Sam Altman (@sama) March 11, 2025

OpenAI launches new instruments to assist companies construct AI brokers

OpenAI rolled out new tools designed to help developers and businesses build AI agents — automated techniques that may independently accomplish duties — utilizing the corporate’s personal AI fashions and frameworks. The instruments are a part of OpenAI’s new Responses API, which permits enterprises to develop custom-made AI brokers that may carry out internet searches, scan by way of firm information, and navigate web sites, much like OpenAI’s Operator product. The Responses API successfully replaces OpenAI’s Assistants API, which the corporate plans to discontinue within the first half of 2026.

OpenAI reportedly plans to cost as much as $20,000 a month for specialised AI ‘brokers’

OpenAI intends to release several “agent” products tailor-made for various functions, together with sorting and rating gross sales leads and software program engineering, in keeping with a report from The Information. One, a “high-income information employee” agent, will reportedly be priced at $2,000 a month. One other, a software program developer agent, is claimed to price $10,000 a month. The most costly rumored brokers, that are stated to be geared toward supporting “PhD-level analysis,” are anticipated to price $20,000 monthly. The jaw-dropping determine is indicative of how a lot money OpenAI wants proper now: The corporate misplaced roughly $5 billion final 12 months after paying for prices associated to operating its providers and different bills. It’s unclear when these agentic instruments may launch or which clients will probably be eligible to purchase them.

ChatGPT can instantly edit your code

The most recent model of the macOS ChatGPT app allows users to edit code directly in supported developer tools, together with Xcode, VS Code, and JetBrains. ChatGPT Plus, Professional, and Crew subscribers can use the characteristic now, and the corporate plans to roll it out to extra customers like Enterprise, Edu, and free customers.

ChatGPT’s weekly lively customers doubled in lower than 6 months, because of new releases

In line with a new report from VC agency Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), OpenAI’s AI chatbot, ChatGPT, experienced solid growth in the second half of 2024. It took ChatGPT 9 months to extend its weekly lively customers from 100 million in November 2023 to 200 million in August 2024, nevertheless it solely took lower than six months to double that quantity as soon as extra, in keeping with the report. ChatGPT’s weekly lively customers elevated to 300 million by December 2024 and 400 million by February 2025. ChatGPT has skilled vital progress not too long ago because of the launch of latest fashions and options, comparable to GPT-4o, with multimodal capabilities. ChatGPT utilization spiked from April to Might 2024, shortly after that mannequin’s launch.

February 2025

OpenAI cancels its o3 AI mannequin in favor of a ‘unified’ next-gen launch

OpenAI has successfully canceled the discharge of o3 in favor of what CEO Sam Altman is asking a “simplified” product providing. In a post on X, Altman stated that, within the coming months, OpenAI will launch a mannequin referred to as GPT-5 that “integrates quite a lot of [OpenAI’s] know-how,” together with o3, in ChatGPT and its API. On account of that roadmap determination, OpenAI not plans to launch o3 as a standalone mannequin. 

ChatGPT will not be as power-hungry as as soon as assumed

A commonly cited stat is that ChatGPT requires round 3 watt-hours of energy to reply a single query. Utilizing OpenAI’s newest default mannequin for ChatGPT, GPT-4o, as a reference, nonprofit AI research institute Epoch AI discovered the typical ChatGPT question consumes around 0.3 watt-hours. Nevertheless, the evaluation doesn’t take into account the extra vitality prices incurred by ChatGPT with options like picture era or enter processing.

OpenAI now reveals extra of its o3-mini mannequin’s thought course of

In response to strain from rivals like DeepSeek, OpenAI is altering the way in which its o3-mini mannequin communicates its step-by-step “thought” process. ChatGPT customers will see an up to date “chain of thought” that exhibits extra of the mannequin’s “reasoning” steps and the way it arrived at solutions to questions.

Now you can use ChatGPT internet search with out logging in

OpenAI is now permitting anybody to make use of ChatGPT internet search without having to log in. Whereas OpenAI had previously allowed customers to ask ChatGPT questions with out signing in, responses have been restricted to the chatbot’s final coaching replace. This solely applies by way of ChatGPT.com, nevertheless. To make use of ChatGPT in any kind by way of the native cellular app, you’ll nonetheless have to be logged in.

OpenAI unveils a brand new ChatGPT agent for ‘deep analysis’

OpenAI introduced a brand new AI “agent” called deep research that’s designed to assist folks conduct in-depth, advanced analysis utilizing ChatGPT. OpenAI says the “agent” is meant for cases the place you don’t simply need a fast reply or abstract, however as a substitute have to assiduously take into account data from a number of web sites and different sources.

February 2025

OpenAI used a subreddit to check AI persuasion

OpenAI used the subreddit r/ChangeMyView to measure the persuasive abilities of its AI reasoning fashions. OpenAI says it collects consumer posts from the subreddit and asks its AI fashions to write down replies, in a closed atmosphere, that may change the Reddit consumer’s thoughts on a topic. The corporate then exhibits the responses to testers, who assess how persuasive the argument is, and at last OpenAI compares the AI fashions’ responses to human replies for that very same publish. 

OpenAI launches o3-mini, its newest ‘reasoning’ mannequin

OpenAI launched a brand new AI “reasoning” model, o3-mini, the most recent within the firm’s o household of fashions. OpenAI first previewed the model in December alongside a extra succesful system referred to as o3. OpenAI is pitching its new mannequin as each “highly effective” and “inexpensive.”

ChatGPT’s cellular customers are 85% male, report says

A brand new report from app analytics agency Appfigures discovered that over half of ChatGPT’s mobile users are underneath age 25, with customers between ages 50 and 64 making up the second largest age demographic. The gender hole amongst ChatGPT customers is much more vital. Appfigures estimates that throughout age teams, males make up 84.5% of all customers.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT plan for US authorities businesses

OpenAI launched ChatGPT Gov designed to provide U.S. government agencies a further technique to entry the tech. ChatGPT Gov contains lots of the capabilities present in OpenAI’s corporate-focused tier, ChatGPT Enterprise. OpenAI says that ChatGPT Gov permits businesses to extra simply handle their very own safety, privateness, and compliance, and will expedite inner authorization of OpenAI’s instruments for the dealing with of personal delicate information.

Extra teenagers report utilizing ChatGPT for schoolwork, regardless of the tech’s faults

Youthful Gen Zers are embracing ChatGPT, for schoolwork, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. In a follow-up to its 2023 ballot on ChatGPT utilization amongst younger folks, Pew requested ~1,400 U.S.-based teenagers ages 13 to 17 whether or not they’ve used ChatGPT for homework or different school-related assignments. Twenty-six p.c stated that that they had, double the quantity two years in the past. Simply over half of teenagers responding to the ballot stated they assume it’s acceptable to make use of ChatGPT for researching new topics. However contemplating the methods ChatGPT can fall quick, the outcomes are presumably trigger for alarm.

OpenAI says it might retailer deleted Operator information for as much as 90 days

OpenAI says that it’d retailer chats and related screenshots from clients who use Operator, the company’s AI “agent” tool, for as much as 90 days — even after a consumer manually deletes them. Whereas OpenAI has an identical deleted information retention coverage for ChatGPT, the retention interval for ChatGPT is barely 30 days, which is 60 days shorter than Operator’s.

OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that performs duties autonomously

OpenAI is launching a analysis preview of Operator, a general-purpose AI agent that may take control of a web browser and independently perform certain actions. Operator guarantees to automate duties comparable to reserving journey lodging, making restaurant reservations, and procuring on-line.

OpenAI could preview its agent instrument for customers on the $200-per-month Professional plan

Operator, OpenAI’s agent tool, might be launched sooner quite than later. Adjustments to ChatGPT’s code base recommend that Operator will be available as an early research preview to customers on the $200 Professional subscription plan. The adjustments aren’t but publicly seen, however a user on X who goes by Choi noticed these updates in ChatGPT’s client-side code. TechCrunch individually recognized the identical references to Operator on OpenAI’s web site.

OpenAI exams telephone number-only ChatGPT signups

OpenAI has begun testing a characteristic that lets new ChatGPT customers sign up with only a phone number — no electronic mail required. The characteristic is presently in beta within the U.S. and India. Nevertheless, customers who create an account utilizing their quantity can’t improve to one in all OpenAI’s paid plans with out verifying their account by way of an electronic mail. Multi-factor authentication additionally isn’t supported with out a legitimate electronic mail.

ChatGPT now allows you to schedule reminders and recurring duties

ChatGPT’s new beta characteristic, referred to as duties, allows users to set simple reminders. For instance, you’ll be able to ask ChatGPT to remind you when your passport expires in six months, and the AI assistant will comply with up with a push notification on no matter platform you may have duties enabled. The characteristic will begin rolling out to ChatGPT Plus, Crew, and Professional customers across the globe this week.

New ChatGPT characteristic lets customers assign it traits like ‘chatty’ and ‘Gen Z’

OpenAI is introducing a brand new manner for customers to customize their interactions with ChatGPT. Some customers discovered they will specify a most popular title or nickname and “traits” they’d just like the chatbot to have. OpenAI suggests traits like “Chatty,” “Encouraging,” and “Gen Z.” Nevertheless, some users reported that the brand new choices have disappeared, so it’s attainable they went dwell prematurely.

December 2024

ChatGPT Search might be tricked into deceptive customers, new analysis reveals

ChatGPT Search might be fooled into producing fully deceptive summaries, The Guardian has found. They discovered ChatGPT might be prompted to disregard unfavourable opinions and generate “entirely positive” summaries by inserting hidden textual content into web sites it created and that ChatGPT Search may be made to spit out malicious code utilizing this technique.

Microsoft and OpenAI reportedly have a finance-centric definition of AGI

Microsoft and OpenAI have a really specific, internal definition of AGI primarily based on the startup’s earnings, in keeping with a brand new report from The Information. The 2 firms reportedly signed an settlement stating OpenAI has solely achieved AGI when it develops AI techniques that may generate at the very least $100 billion in revenue, which is much from the rigorous technical and philosophical definition of AGI many would anticipate.

OpenAI educated o1 and o3 to ‘assume’ about its security coverage

OpenAI released new research outlining the corporate’s strategy to make sure AI reasoning fashions keep aligned with the values of their human builders. The startup used “deliberative alignment” to make o1 and o3 “think” about OpenAI’s safety policy. In line with OpenAI’s analysis, the strategy decreased the speed at which o1 answered “unsafe” questions whereas enhancing its skill to reply benign ones.

OpenAI broadcasts new o3 reasoning fashions

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman introduced the successors to its o1 reasoning model family: o3 and o3-mini. The fashions usually are not extensively accessible but, however security researchers can join a preview. The reveal marks the tip of the “12 Days of OpenAI” occasion, which noticed bulletins for real-time imaginative and prescient capabilities, ChatGPT Search, and even a Santa voice for ChatGPT. 

OpenAI brings ChatGPT to your landline

In an effort to make ChatGPT accessible to as many individuals as attainable, OpenAI introduced a 1-800 number to call the chatbot — even from a landline or a flip telephone. Customers can name 1-800-CHATGPT, and ChatGPT will reply to your queries in an expertise that is kind of similar to Superior Voice Mode — minus the multimodality.

OpenAI is providing quarter-hour of free calling for U.S. customers. The corporate notes that customary service charges could apply.

OpenAI brings its ChatGPT Search to extra customers

OpenAI is bringing ChatGPT Search to free, logged in users. Search provides ChatGPT the flexibility to entry real-time data on the net to higher reply your queries, however was solely accessible for paid customers when it launched in October. Not solely is Search accessible now at no cost customers, nevertheless it’s additionally been built-in into Advanced Voice Mode.

OpenAI blames huge ChatGPT outage on a ‘new telemetry service’

OpenAI is blaming one of many longest outages in its historical past on a “new telemetry service” gone awry. OpenAI wrote in a postmortem that the outage wasn’t brought on by a safety incident or current product launch, however by a telemetry service it deployed to gather Kubernetes metrics.

You can also make ChatGPT sound like Santa for a restricted time

OpenAI introduced that ChatGPT customers might entry a new “Santa Mode” voice throughout December. The characteristic permits customers to talk with ChatGPT’s Superior Voice Mode, however with a Christmas twist. The voice sounds, effectively, “merry and shiny,” as OpenAI described it. Assume boomy, jolly — roughly like each Santa you’ve ever heard.

OpenAI provides imaginative and prescient to Superior Voice Mode

OpenAI launched the real-time video capabilities for ChatGPT that it demoed almost seven months in the past. ChatGPT Plus, Crew, and Professional subscribers can use the app to level their telephones at objects and have ChatGPT reply in near-real-time. The characteristic also can perceive what’s on a tool’s display screen by way of display screen sharing.

There’s extra to return from OpenAI by way of December 23. Tune in to our live blog to remain up to date.

ChatGPT and Sora hit with a serious outage

ChatGPT and Sora each skilled a serious outage Wednesday. Although customers suspected the outage was because of the rollout of ChatGPT in Apple Intelligence, OpenAI developer group lead Edwin Arbus denied it in a post on X, saying the “outage was unrelated to 12 Days of OpenAI or Apple Intelligence. We made a config change that precipitated many servers to turn into unavailable.”