ChatGPT

Overview

ChatGPT is an AI conversational assistant launched by OpenAI in November 2022, built on the GPT series of large language models. It is the first consumer-grade product to spark a global AI boom, surpassing 100 million users within just two months of launch, and remains one of the most widely used AI tools worldwide. OpenAI disclosed on 2026-09-29 that ChatGPT surpassed 1.2 billion weekly active users, with ChatGPT Work and Codex together exceeding 35 million weekly users.

ChatGPT supports multimodal capabilities including natural language conversation, text generation, code writing, data analysis, image understanding and generation. With the 2026-10-08 rollout of GPT-6 to a much wider set of users, answers are no longer text only: the new Intelligent UI can generate graphics, buttons, forms, charts and interactive components in response to a question.

Current version: GPT-6 is now available to a much wider set of ChatGPT users (2026-10-08), alongside the Intelligent UI. GPT-6 Astra was released on 2026-09-03 and rolled out to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, API, and AWS Bedrock, priced at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. At OpenAI DevDay 2026 (2026-09-29), GPT-6.1 Sol launched at about one-seventh the task cost of Astra, and a $500 subscription was introduced. For Plus and Pro users, GPT-5.6 Sol has improved factual accuracy and answer focus with a new thinking-effort slider, while free users' default model is GPT-5.6 Luna with unlimited text chat and a Think button (2026-08-06).

Key Features

• Multimodal Conversation: Supports text, images, files, and voice input; capable of understanding images, reading PDFs, and analyzing tables—a true all-in-one assistant. With GPT-6 and the Intelligent UI (2026-10-08), answers can include graphics, buttons, forms, charts and interactive components.
• Code Generation and Debugging: Proficient in mainstream languages such as Python, JavaScript, and SQL; can directly generate runnable code, as well as explain and refactor existing code. Codex is now an agent product for non-engineers within ChatGPT Work (2026-08-24).
• Image Generation: Generate images directly in conversation using natural language descriptions, with good text rendering and consistency.
• Advanced Data Analysis: Upload CSV/Excel files to automatically write Python code for data cleaning, statistical analysis, and visualization. The Data agent in ChatGPT Work (2026-09-10) connects platforms such as Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Amazon Redshift, ClickHouse, MongoDB and Datadog plus Google Drive and SharePoint files, and generates interactive dashboards that can be edited, shared and refreshed.
• GPTs / Workspace Agents: Individuals can customize GPTs; the enterprise version upgrades to Workspace Agents, supporting team collaboration and 7×24 asynchronous operation. Spaces (2026-09-29) adds a shared area where teams work alongside AI, with interactive documents called pages that can hold charts, images, checklists and dashboards.
• Web Search and Real-time Information: Supports real-time web search for the latest information, overcoming the limitations of training data cutoff dates.
• ChatGPT Work and Agents: ChatGPT Work includes a cloud version (Work Cloud) and a desktop application version (Work Local), available only to subscribers of $20/month and above (2026-08-30). The Admin plugin for ChatGPT Work and Codex (2026-08-25) analyzes workspace usage, manages members and permissions, adjusts limits, and acts on admin requests. The desktop app can import projects, chat history, skills, and plugins from other agents (2026-08-11).
• Voice and Desktop Control: ChatGPT Voice gained tool use including Mail, Calendar and Slack, powered by GPT-6 Astra, Sol and Luna, and reached ChatGPT Work on web and mobile (2026-09-23). Voice on the desktop app (2026-08-08, expanded 2026-07-23) lets users control the computer and direct multiple agents in ChatGPT Work or Codex, based on the ChatGPT-Live voice model series, with Appshots screen access on macOS.
• Meetings Plugin: Launched 2026-10-06, the Meetings plugin takes notes for you and saves a personalized summary and next steps in a ChatGPT Space, drawing on what ChatGPT knows about you and your past work. Notes can stay private or be shared with the team, and ChatGPT can update project plans or draft follow-ups. In beta for Pro and Business users, found by searching the plugin directory in the macOS desktop app.
• Finances: Introduced 2026-10-02 at chatgpt.com/finances: finds forgotten subscriptions, flags unusual or duplicate charges, tracks bill increases, sends weekly money updates, builds budgets from actual spending, tracks credit scores and plans debt payoff. Voice can be used to talk through the impact of a job change, and ChatGPT can analyze the composition and concentration of a portfolio across accounts.
• Office Integration: ChatGPT for Word launched 2026-09-17, turning rough notes into a first draft, tightening paragraphs, proofreading, suggesting edits and flagging formatting problems inside the document. With Excel and PowerPoint already supported, this completes the full Office integration.
• Health Features: Rolled out to US users on 2026-07-23, supporting secure connections to Apple Health and supported medical records, so ChatGPT can understand personal health context, track changes, and provide more personalized assistance. Healthcare organizations can now connect EHR and additional trusted medical data (2026-09-01).
• ChatGPT for Teens: Released 2026-08-18, automatically enabled for users aged 13-17, with built-in stronger safety protections and parental controls. New features include Study Mode, responsible homework reminders, quiz and learning visualizations, and Study Hours that allow setting default active periods.

Use Cases

• Professionals who need to quickly draft emails, reports, and proposals in daily work.
• Developers and programmers needing code assistance and technical Q&A.
• Students and researchers conducting paper searches, literature reviews, and translations.
• Content creators producing copy, scripts, and marketing content.
• Business analysts who need data analysis but are not proficient in programming.
• Teams that need shared collaboration spaces with interactive documents, charts and dashboards.
• Users who want meeting notes, personalized summaries and follow-up drafts handled automatically.
• Individuals tracking subscriptions, budgets, credit scores and debt payoff.
• Clinicians and healthcare organizations connecting trusted medical data for patient context and research.
• Teenagers aged 13-17 with parental controls and study-oriented features.

Pros

• Most mature ecosystem: Plugin store, GPTs, Workspace Agents, and API ecosystem are the most comprehensive among all AI assistants.
• Leading multimodal capabilities: Text + images + files + voice + code + data analysis all in one, now extended by GPT-6 and the Intelligent UI with interactive components (2026-10-08).
• Free tier available: The free version allows access to basic features with a very low entry barrier, and free users' default model is GPT-5.6 Luna with unlimited text chat (2026-08-06).
• Fast response speed: Dialogue fluency is excellent among large models.
• Largest global user community: Easy to find tutorials and solutions when encountering issues.
• Expanding platform: ChatGPT Sites can host MCP servers built and deployed inside ChatGPT and installed across web, mobile, and desktop (2026-10-01), and subscription credits can be used across more than 60 partner products (2026-09-29).

Pricing

ChatGPT adopts a freemium model. The free version provides access to the basic model and limited features; the Plus version is $20/month, unlocking more models and advanced features; the Pro version is $200/month, offering the highest level of access. At OpenAI DevDay 2026 (2026-09-29), a $500 subscription was introduced, and the 200-dollar Pro quota multiplier was cut from 20x to 10x, while the 500-dollar tier is 25x. ChatGPT Work is available only to subscribers of $20/month and above. For specific model and feature details, please refer to the latest information on the official website.

Summary

ChatGPT is currently the most comprehensive and mature AI assistant in terms of functionality and ecosystem, suitable for users who need multimodal conversations, code assistance, data analysis, content creation, or team collaboration. Its core advantages lie in its integrated multimodal capabilities, rich plugin and custom GPT ecosystem, and flexible pricing ranging from free to professional tiers, enabling it to meet a wide range of needs from individuals to enterprises. Recent additions extend it further: Spaces for team collaboration with interactive pages (2026-09-29), the Meetings plugin for notes and follow-ups (2026-10-06), Finances for money management (2026-10-02), ChatGPT Work with a Data agent (2026-09-10), and full Office integration through Word, Excel and PowerPoint (2026-09-17).

Version History

• ChatGPT adds Locked Chats and recurring team tasks (2026-10-20): OpenAI introduced Locked Chats for ChatGPT on October 20, 2026, moving sensitive conversations out of regular history and search into a protected space. Web and desktop unlock with a PIN, while supported mobile devices accept a PIN, Face ID, Touch ID or device unlock; new messages in a locked chat do not update regular memory. The feature rolled out across Free through Enterprise tiers. The same day, team tasks on team plans gained recurring automation for engineering work, such as a Friday summary of shipped items and blockers. ChatGPT Slides had already added real-time collaborative editing on October 19.
• ChatGPT Slides gains real-time collaboration, Chrome extension works directly in tabs (2026-10-19): ChatGPT announced on October 19 that Slides now supports collaboration and editing: users can share decks inside ChatGPT, co-edit in real time and leave comments, then have ChatGPT or dot turn that feedback into updates. Text can be edited by clicking directly, charts refreshed, and images and shapes moved or resized. The same day an OpenAI staffer detailed how the ChatGPT Chrome extension works directly in browser tabs without the desktop app on any plan, enabling cross-tab research and product comparison over open tabs and signed-in sites, while Work mode can fill forms, download files, organize expenses and run in the background.
• dots can now be created on mobile (2026-10-09): ChatGPT dots received an update letting users create and message a dot directly in the iOS and Android apps. The same batch brings faster browsing, smoother scrolling, fewer unwanted notifications, tidier code blocks and attachments, simpler Outlook setup and more reliable voice access on web and business plans.
• GPT-6 for everyone with Intelligent UI (2026-10-08): OpenAI brought GPT-6 to a much wider set of ChatGPT users and introduced Intelligent UI alongside it: answers are no longer text only, and can generate graphics, buttons, forms, charts and interactive components to respond to a question
• Meetings plugin (2026-10-07): ChatGPT launched a Meetings plugin that takes notes for you and saves a personalized summary and next steps in a ChatGPT Space, drawing on what ChatGPT knows about you and your past work. Notes can stay private or be shared with the team, and ChatGPT can update project plans or draft follow-ups. It is in beta for Pro and Business users, found by searching the plugin directory in the macOS desktop app, with an Enterprise version coming
• ChatGPT launches the Meetings plugin, which can automatically take meeting notes and follow up on to-dos. (2026-10-06): ChatGPT has released the Meetings plugin, which can take meeting notes for users and, based on ChatGPT's understanding of the user and past work, save personalized summaries and next steps in ChatGPT Space. Notes can be saved privately or shared with the team, and ChatGPT can also update project plans or draft follow-up content. It is currently available in beta for Pro and Business users and can be used by searching for Meetings in the plugin directory of the macOS desktop app. Enterpr
• New visual ad format and expanded measurement (2026-10-05): OpenAI published Building advertising for the way people use AI. ChatGPT gained a new visual ad format, testing this month in the US around image generation, with ads clearly labeled and kept from influencing ChatGPT answers. Measurement tools, attribution partnerships, and brand suitability controls expanded alongside it
• Finances launches (2026-10-03): ChatGPT introduced Finances at chatgpt.com/finances: it finds forgotten subscriptions, flags unusual or duplicate charges, tracks bill increases, sends weekly money updates, builds budgets from actual spending, tracks credit scores and plans debt payoff. Voice can be used to talk through the impact of a job change, and ChatGPT can analyze the composition and concentration of a portfolio across accounts
• ChatGPT launches Finances financial management feature. (2026-10-02): ChatGPT officially announced the launch of its Finances money management feature, accessible at http://chatgpt.com/finances. Features include finding forgotten subscriptions, discovering unusual or duplicate charges, tracking bill increases, weekly financial updates, creating budgets based on actual spending, tracking credit scores, making debt repayment plans, using Voice to discuss the impact of changing jobs, and analyzing portfolio composition and concentration across accounts.
• Build and deploy MCP servers directly (2026-10-01): ChatGPT Sites can now host MCP servers, letting users build and deploy an MCP server inside ChatGPT and turn it into an app installed across web, mobile, and desktop. Access can be limited to specific people or shared publicly
• Weekly active users disclosed (2026-09-29): OpenAI disclosed that ChatGPT surpassed 1.2 billion weekly active users, with ChatGPT Work and Codex together exceeding 35 million weekly users
• ChatGPT subscription credits can now be used directly across more than 60 partner products (2026-09-29):
• OpenAI opened the ChatGPT platform, letting developers build native apps with plugin extensions (2026-09-29):
• ChatGPT adds Spaces for team collaboration and interactive pages (2026-09-29): Spaces is a new shared area where teams work alongside AI. Its interactive documents, called pages, can hold charts, images, checklists and dashboards, and ChatGPT generates them automatically from the task or conversation context.
• OpenAI DevDay 2026 releases a package of updates including Dots, GPT-6.1 Sol, and a $500 subscription. (2026-09-29): The author summarizes the announcements from OpenAI DevDay 2026: the personal Agent product Dots is being rolled out to ChatGPT Pro, Business Premium, and Enterprise users, supporting collaboration with over 4,000 apps; the new model GPT-6.1 Sol launches at about one-seventh the task cost of Astra; a $500 subscription is introduced and the 200-dollar Pro quota multiplier is cut from 20x to 10x, while the 500-dollar tier is 25x.
• GPT Voice gains tool use and reaches ChatGPT Work (2026-09-23): OpenAI upgraded ChatGPT Voice so speech can call tools including Mail, Calendar and Slack, powered by GPT-6 Astra, Sol and Luna. Voice reached ChatGPT Work on web and mobile, letting users create documents, decks, sites and spreadsheets in the browser or handle complex tasks by speaking alone, rolling out worldwide in the latest app that day.
• Independent investigation: ChatGPT's __obi cross-site cookie can link off-site browsing behavior to ChatGPT accounts. (2026-09-20): The author reproduced the OpenAI ad collector mechanism through traffic capture on their own phone: bzr.openai.com sets the obi cookie on the .openai.com domain, binding it to a ChatGPT account (or a stable anonymous subject). When merchant sites serving ads load the OpenAI pixel code, they send obi back to OpenAI along with browsing and purchase data.
• ChatGPT for Word launches, completing the Office trio (2026-09-17): ChatGPT is now integrated into Microsoft Word, where it turns rough notes into a first draft, tightens paragraphs, proofreads, suggests edits and flags formatting problems inside the document. ChatGPT had already reached Excel and PowerPoint, so the Word launch completes the full Office integration; OpenAI says usage of the Excel and PowerPoint integrations has grown sharply in recent weeks.
• ChatGPT Ads launches Sponsored Agents, with HubSpot and Shopify integrations (2026-09-16): OpenAI is rolling out a range of new AI-driven experiences for ChatGPT Ads. Sponsored Agents let users click an ad and talk to a clearly labeled, commercially sponsored agent, ask follow-up questions and jump to the company's website when ready; that conversation is kept separate from ChatGPT's independent answers, and is currently being tested in the US with select advertisers. The Ads Manager plugin lets advertisers create, update and analyze campaigns in ChatGPT using natural language, and suggests copy and imagery based on landing pages and campaign goals, which advertisers can review and edit before launch. AI text customization is optional, adjusting existing headlines and descriptions to fit the conversational context, and automatically translating ad copy into the user's preferred language. HubSpot becomes the first CRM partner and Shopify the first ecommerce partner; US merchants can run and track campaigns starting today through the ChatGPT Ads app in the Shopify App Store, with other countries rolling out from September 23 in markets where ads are already available.
• 404 Media exposes OpenAI's Lily plan: manually reviewing ChatGPT chat logs to optimize the model. (2026-09-15): 404 Media disclosed an OpenAI internal project codenamed Project Lily, in which prompt reviewers paid over $50 per hour examine anonymized real user chat logs to judge whether responses are on topic and whether they contain AI-style phrasing and sycophantic tone.
• ChatGPT Work introduces Data agent: connect company data and build interactive dashboards with natural language (2026-09-10): OpenAI introduced Data agent in ChatGPT Work, available in the Plugins directory as Data and invoked with @Data in conversation. Users connect data platforms such as Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Amazon Redshift, ClickHouse, MongoDB and Datadog, plus files in Google Drive and SharePoint, investigate metric changes through follow-up questions, inspect the evidence behind each finding, and generate interactive dashboards that can be edited, shared and refreshed, or build dashboards inside existing BI tools including Omni, Power BI, Tableau, Sigma, ThoughtSpot and Oracle BI. Queries enforce the connected account's table, row and column level permissions. Internally, nearly all OpenAI product teams and over two-thirds of the GTM team already analyze company data with it, and 11 organizations including NTT DATA, Thermo Fisher and ServiceTitan are piloting.
• OpenAI releases GPT-6 Astra, focused on computer operation and triggering the cybersecurity Critical red line (2026-09-04): OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra on September 3, with the API model name gpt-6-astra, priced at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. It will be rolled out to ChatGPT subscription tiers, API, and AWS Bedrock in the coming days.
• OpenAI releases GPT-6 Astra, scoring 99.9% on ARC-AGI 3 (2026-09-03): OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra is rolling out to select organizations starting today, followed by availability for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users. API pricing is set at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens, matching Claude Fable 5/5.1.
• ATV Big Air Tour turned 3 days of work into 3 hours with Cha (2026-09-02): ATV Big Air Tour uses ChatGPT Work to speed up marketing, merchandising, and more. It even turned merchandise photos into an inventory website in 15 minutes.
• Healthcare organizations can now connect EHR and additional (2026-09-01): ChatGPT can now connect to trusted medical data, helping clinicians securely access patient context, medical research and more.
• ChatGPT Ads reaches $1 billion in annualized revenue and expands globally (2026-08-31): ChatGPT Ads annualized revenue run rate has surpassed $1 billion and expanded into global markets. This advertising business supports more people in using AI services through free and low-cost options.
• Understanding ChatGPT Work: what it actually is, and how it differs from Chat (2026-08-30): OpenAI released ChatGPT Work on July 9, which actually includes two products: the cloud version (Work Cloud) and the desktop application version (Work Local), available only to subscribers of $20/month and above.
• Bringing ChatGPT for Teachers to more U.S. school districts (2026-08-26): ChatGPT for Teachers is expanding to 55 U.S. school systems, bringing secure AI tools, training, and support to over 100,000 more educators and staff.
• Introducing the Admin plugin for ChatGPT Work and Codex (2026-08-25): Use the Admin plugin for ChatGPT Work and Codex to analyze workspace usage, manage members and permissions, adjust limits, and act on admin requests.
• OpenAI is building AI agents for everything, but will users be willing to hand over control? (2026-08-24): OpenAI launches ChatGPT Work, transforming Codex into an agent product for non-engineers, with the lowest subscription tier available at $20 per month, aiming to enable white-collar workers to autonomously complete multi-step tasks via LLM. Internally, 98% of OpenAI employees used Codex in June, but only 17% of organizational subscribers and less than 1% of individual subscribers did. The company is expanding adoption through a simplified interface to support its massive training investments.
• Stampli cuts launch hours by 68% using ChatGPT Work (2026-08-20): With a fixed deadline and design resources committed elsewhere, Stampli used Codex and ChatGPT Work to compress weeks of launch production into days.
• OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens: a learning experience for teens with stronger safety protections (2026-08-18): OpenAI releases ChatGPT for Teens, automatically enabled for users aged 13-17, with built-in stronger safety protections and parental controls. New features include Study Mode, responsible homework reminders, quiz and learning visualizations, and Study Hours that allow setting default active periods, guiding teenagers to solve problems step-by-step rather than directly providing answers. OpenAI also announced a partnership with CodeAI to help teenagers understand, question, and creatively use AI.
• ChatGPT desktop now supports importing work data from other agents (2026-08-11): You can now keep other agents' work in sync with ChatGPT Work and Codex. You can import projects, chat history, skills, and plugins, view import history, and choose to enable automatic updates in settings. Now available in the ChatGPT desktop app.
• OpenAI brings voice interaction to ChatGPT on desktop, enabling voice-controlled multi-step tasks on your computer (2026-08-08): OpenAI updates ChatGPT desktop app, adding support for ChatGPT Voice, allowing users to directly control the AI agent through voice conversations and have it execute tasks on their computer. This feature is based on the new voice model series ChatGPT-Live, supports ChatGPT Work and Codex, and on macOS can also access screen content via Appshots.
• OpenAI refines GPT-5.6 Sol in ChatGPT and expands free-user access to GPT-5.6 Luna (2026-08-06): OpenAI updates ChatGPT: For Plus and Pro users, GPT-5.6 Sol has improved factual accuracy and answer focus, with a new slider to control the model's thinking effort. Free users' default model is upgraded to GPT-5.6 Luna, with unlimited text chat now available, and a new Think button for handling more complex questions.
• GPT-Live, a new architecture for real-time audio, released (2026-08-03): GPT-Live is a new architecture and stack for real-time audio: GPT-Live can listen while it speaks. To make this experience feel natural at ChatGPT scale, we rebuilt the voice stack from client to model. This new architecture keeps audio flowing continuously, so deeper reasoning and tool use don't interrupt the conversation.
• OpenAI offers frontier models free to academic researchers (2026-07-29): ChatGPT for Academic Researchers - Free (!!) Use our cutting-edge models, including GPT-5.6-Sol Pro, designed for mathematicians, scientists, researchers, and scholars. Let unsolved problems fall!
• ChatGPT rolls out health features to US users (2026-07-23): OpenAI announced the launch of ChatGPT health features for US users, supporting secure connections to Apple Health and supported medical records. With 300 million users per week using ChatGPT for health consultations, the new feature enables ChatGPT to understand personal health context, track changes, and provide more personalized assistance.
• ChatGPT desktop app adds voice control for multi-agent workflows (2026-07-23): ChatGPT voice functionality is now available on the desktop app. Simply use your voice to control your computer and direct multiple agents running in ChatGPT Work or Codex. This feature is powered by GPT-Live, enabling it to speak, listen, and coordinate tasks simultaneously within the app. Starting today, it is being rolled out globally to Plus, Pro, Business, Edu, and Enterprise plan users on macOS and Windows platforms.