With ChatGPT plugins, OpenAI could revolutionise web browsing, challenge Google’s dominance

ChatGPT

OpenAI has lately launched ChatGPT Plugins, a method of extending the functionality of ChatGPT to do web-based tasks. It means ChatGPT can not only access the web and read the most recent articles and news but also perform tasks for us like grocery shopping, flight booking, and much more.

These tools help ChatGPT access up-to-date information, run computations, or use third-party services like OpenTable to make reservations at your favourite restaurants and manage your bookings, Wolfram as a study tool and Instacart to order groceries from your favourite local supermarkets.

Following OpenAI's iterative deployment philosophy, the researchers are releasing plugins in ChatGPT one at a time to examine their actual use, impact, and safety and alignment concerns, all of which they claim are critical to achieving their goal.

Plugins are used to supplement or expand the functionality of your website. For example, if you want to sell products or accept donations on your website, you'll need a plugin. The Adobe Flash Player, Java virtual machine (for Java applets), QuickTime, Microsoft Silverlight, and the Unity Web Player are all examples of such software.

OpenAI says that since launching ChatGPT, users have been asking for plugins, and many developers are working on it because plugins open up a wide range of possible uses. Currently most are in testing,  but there’s excitement that this will help shape the future of how people and computers work together.

Plugins are subprograms that connect to or hook into a larger programme. They are pieces of software that add new features to a programme without changing its code.

OpenAI has asked plugin developers to use its documentation to make plugin for ChatGPT. The language model is then shown a prompt with a list of the enabled plugins and documentation on how to use each one.

Users must go to the ChatGPT website's plugin store to add the plugins. Then, they can browse through the apps and select from a variety of them. Once installed, users can access the plugins via the ChatGPT prompt.

ChatGPT's staffers made these plugins, which are currently being tested in alpha. Unfortunately, it means that only a few people can use them now, and the general public has to wait for their turn.

During this testing period, ChatGPT will get feedback from users to improve and make the plugins easier to use. After the testing period, ChatGPT plans to give the plugins to all users.

The ChatGPT plugins are made to help users with everyday tasks. For example, the travel plugin can help users plan their next holiday by suggesting flights, hotels, and things to do. It can also tell you about the weather and places nearby.

The meal ordering plugin would help ChatGPT users to make food choices. Users can look at the menus of nearby restaurants, place orders, and pay for their meals without leaving the ChatGPT interface.

The shopping plugin lets users find items they want and compare prices from different online stores. The entertainment plugin can suggest movies, TV shows, and songs. With the news plugin, readers can get the latest news about what's happening in the world. Expect more plugins for learning languages, monitoring health, doing business analytics and language translation in 2023 and beyond.

This trend is evident from Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, KAYAK, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram, and Zapier having already made their first ChatGPT plugins.

Although plugins vary greatly, all have the potential to cause security issues, which frequently begin with a loss of device control, the appearance of pop-up ads, erratic behaviour, and so on. They can also cause data loss because they collect personal information, including login information, and send it unauthorisedly.

To solve these problems, OpenAI claims it has taken several steps like red-teaming drills for ensuring rigorous cyber security, safety-by-design mitigations, and the slow rollout of plugin access.

OpenAI’s collaborative work with external academics, developers, and users to study the security risks, social effects, and functionality of ChatGPT plugins shows the company is conscious of what a loss of public confidence can mean at this stage. Together, the AI community can shape how people and AI interact in the future and ensure that these powerful new tools are used ethically and to the best of their abilities.

As ChatGPT evolves and improves, the possibilities for new plugins developing capabilities of search engines and personal assistants, managing your social media accounts, helping in education, and warding off security threats is limitless.

The big question then is will we give more agency to ChatGPT while browsing and adopt a more passive stance, giving orders and making choices and letting AI do the rest of the work for us.

Possibilities like ChatGPT asking a restaurant to prepare a dish based on a recipe it crafted following some prompts given by the user await us in the future. With Plugins we have just taken another step towards giving AI more agency in web browsing.