OpenAI, a company owned by Microsoft, has launched a new feature for their ChatGPT chatbot that allows it to access third-party knowledge sources and databases, including the web. This will enable ChatGPT to access up-to-date information and run computations, making it more useful for users.
The company plans to start providing access to plugins with a small set of users and gradually roll out larger-scale access as they learn more. They will initially prioritize a small number of developers and ChatGPT Plus users.
Plugins are tools designed specifically for language models with safety as a core principle. They help ChatGPT access information, run computations, or use third-party services while ensuring that the system remains safe and secure. They can be seen as ‘eyes and ears for language models, providing access to information that is too recent, too personal, or too specific to be included in the training data.
In addition, plugins can enable language models to perform safe, constrained actions on a user’s behalf in response to an explicit request, increasing the system’s overall usefulness.
OpenAI plans to roll out the ability for developers to create their own plugins for ChatGPT, which will enable them to customize the chatbot to suit their specific needs. This is expected to increase the popularity and usefulness of ChatGPT, making it an even more valuable tool for users.
