OpenAI GPT-4o Begins Rolling Out to Some Users, Gets Web Searching Capability

OpenAI GPT-4o artificial intelligence (AI) model was unveiled on Monday, and it is now being rolled out to some users. The newest flagship-grade AI model by the company introduced significant improvements in the speech and vision capabilities of the chatbot, as well as added a better understanding of the language and context of the queries. For now, users are getting the AI model with limited access and the voice and video features are not available to use. People can, however, use its text and web search capabilities.

We, at Gadgets 360, got access to the GPT-4o model on Friday morning. This confirms that the AI model will be available in India, even when it was not specified during OpenAI’s Spring Update event. However, it was available to only a couple of staff members, so it’s likely the company is rolling out the AI model gradually and it will take a few weeks before everyone can use it. The limited access is also very restrictive. I was able to get about ten questions in before my limit expired, and I was shifted back to GPT-3.5.

ChatGPT’s GPT-4o – website view

Currently, users cannot do anything to get access faster than others. There is no waitlist to join. However, users will require an OpenAI account to be eligible for this update. Once GPT-4o is available, users will get a message when opening the website which mentions that they can now access it in a limited capacity. If you have the same account on your Android or iOS app, you will get access to the model there as well. Do note, that reloading the page will make the message disappear.

There is an easy test to check whether you have GPT-4o or not (in case you might have missed the message). After opening the ChatGPT website, you can see a collapsible menu on the top left within the margin. If you do not have access to GPT-4o, and you’re a free user, it will show ChatGPT 3.5 and give you the option to sign up for ChatGPT Plus with access to GPT-4. However, if you do have access to the new AI model, the menu will not mention any numbers and simply mention ChatGPT and ChatGPT Plus. Further, the lightning icon is replaced with two intersecting elliptical circles (looks like a minimalist atom icon).

ChatGPT’s GPT-4o – Android app view

We took the new AI model for a spin and found some improvements in its responses. One particular use case was in solving mathematical equations. Compared to GPT-3.5, it now shows the answers in a better format and does not complete multiple steps in one go. Creative generation is also more fluid and the usage of its ‘robotic’ language has reduced significantly. And the biggest upgrade is that this model can search the web to give you the latest information, so you do not have to worry about its knowledge cut-off anymore. Every web-based search result now comes with citations for which website was used to get the information.