ChatGPT, AI, and Implications for Higher Education

OpenAI’s new iteration of ChatGPT (GPT-4) was introduced on March 14^th, 2023. This version includes substantial updates to their former artificial intelligence language model, GPT-3. It is currently available behind a paywall in the form of a ChatGPT Plus subscription. [1]  Microsoft's Bing chat, also called the "new Bing," runs on GPT-4. [8]

Notable Updates

• An increase in input/output capacity from approximately 8,000 words to 25,000 words [2]  
• “GPT4 is more creative and collaborative than before. It can generate, edit, and iterate with users on creative and technical writing tasks such as composing songs, writing screenplays, or learning a user’s writing style” [3]
• Beta-testing of connectivity to “third-party knowledge sources and databases, including the web,” expanding the former dataset beyond information from September 2021 or before [4]  
• The ability to analyze images while producing responses such as analyses, captions, and classifications [2] (with new applications such as ‘Be My Eyes,’ which provides larger access to the world for visually impaired persons [5]).  
• A more multilingual system with higher accuracy in 24 languages than GPT-3 [6] 
• An increase in accuracy for responses by 40% and a decrease in banned or disallowed content found in responses by 82% [2] 

Further Reading

• OpenAI GPT-4 Overview

• OpenAI GPT-4 Research Overview

• OpenAI GPT-4 Technical Report

 1. OpenAI. (2023, February 1). Introducing chatgpt plus. Introducing ChatGPT Plus. Retrieved from https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt-plus 

 2. OpenAI. (n.d.). GPT-4. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://openai.com/product/gpt-4

 3. Bushwick, S. (2023, March 16). What the new GPT-4 AI can do. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-the-new-gpt-4-ai-can-do/ 

 4. Wiggers, K. (2023, March 24). OpenAI connects Chatgpt to the internet. TechCrunch. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/openai-connects-chatgpt-to-the-internet/amp/ 

 5. Lawrence, C. (2023, March 23). Be my eyes is collaborating with OpenAI's GPT-4 to improve accessibility for blind and low-vision people. Tech.eu. Retrieved from https://tech.eu/2023/03/23/be-my-eyes-is-collborating-with-open-ai/ 

6. Open AI. (2023, March 14). GPT-4. Retrieved April 26, 2023, from https://openai.com/research/gpt-4  

 7. Bathgate, R. (2023, March 15). OpenAI announces multimodal GPT-4 promising "human-level performance". IT PRO. Retrieved from https://www.itpro.com/technology/artificial-intelligence-ai/370261/openai-announces-gpt-4-human-level-performance

8. Ortiz, S. (2023, March 15). Want to experience GPT-4? just use bing chat. ZDNET. Retrieved April 26, 2023, from https://www.zdnet.com/article/want-to-experience-gpt-4-just-use-bing-chat/