The best ChatGPT plug-ins you can use

By Jon Martindale April 12, 2024

AI PDF custom GPT. — Jon Martindale / DigitalTrends

ChatGPT is an amazing tool, and when they were introduced, plug-ins made it even better. But as of March 2024, they’re no longer available as part of ChatGPT, having since been replaced by Custom GPTs, which you can make yourself. Or you can use one of the many amazing options from other developers, AI fans, and prompt engineers.

Interested in learning about how to make the best custom GPT for you? We have a guide for that. If you’re more interested in the best custom GPTs available now, we have a guide for that too.

ChatGPT and other natural language model artificial intelligences (AI) are evolving all the time, with new and exciting features, and ever-more-impressive capabilities. Other companies are right there with OpenAI, too. Microsoft’s Copilot for Windows is improving by leaps and bounds every time it’s updated. And Google’s Gemini isn’t far behind.

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Artificial Intelligence

Computing Coordinator

Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…

Computing

How to use Google Gemini, the main challenger to ChatGPT

Google's Gemini AI chatbot has quickly become one of the major players in the generative AI space. Despite its rocky start, Gemini is one of the only true competitors to ChatGPT. Here's everything you need to know about it.
What is Google Gemini?
Google first introduced its AI endeavor as Bard in March 2023 in a free and experimental capacity. The chatbot was originally run on the LaMDA large language model (LLM).

In August 2023, it introduced Google Duet as an enterprise option featuring AI-inundated Workspace apps, including Gmail, Drive, Slides, Docs, and others.

Computing

GPTZero: how to use the ChatGPT detection tool

A MidJourney rendering of a student and his robot friend in front of a blackboard.

In terms of world-changing technologies, ChatGPT has truly made a massive impact on the way people think about writing and coding in the short time that it's been available. Being able to plug in a prompt and get out a stream of almost good enough text is a tempting proposition for many people who aren't confident in their writing skills or are looking to save time. However, this ability has come with a significant downside, particularly in education, where students are tempted to use ChatGPT for their own papers or exams. That prevents them from learning as much as they could, which has given teachers a whole new headache when it comes to detecting AI use.

Teachers and other users are now looking for ways to detect the use of ChatGPT in students' work, and many are turning to tools like GPTZero, a ChatGPT detection tool built by Princeton University student Edward Tian. The software is available to everyone, so if you want to try it out and see the chances that a particular piece of text was written using ChatGPT, here's how you can do that.
What is GPTZero?

Computing

Is ChatGPT safe? Here are the risks to consider before using it

A response from ChatGPT on an Android phone.

For those who have seen ChatGPT in action, you know just how amazing this generative AI tool can be. And if you haven’t seen ChatGPT do its thing, prepare to have your mind blown!

There’s no doubting the power and performance of OpenAI’s famous chatbot, but is ChatGPT actually safe to use? While tech leaders the world over are concerned over the evolutionary development of AI, these global concerns don’t necessarily translate to an individual user experience. With that being said, let’s take a closer look at ChatGPT to help you hone in on your comfort level.
Privacy and financial leaks
In at least one instance, chat history between users was mixed up. On March 20, 2023, ChatGPT creator OpenAI discovered a problem, and ChatGPT was down for several hours. Around that time, a few ChatGPT users saw the conversation history of other people instead of their own. Possibly more concerning was the news that payment-related information from ChatGPT-Plus subscribers might have leaked as well.