ChatGPT's Latest Features Include File Analysis and Multi-Modal Support

30.10.2023 - 16:47 / pcmag.com

ChatGPT is growing more powerful all the time, with a continuous rollout of new features. If you're a subscriber, you get access to many of those features in beta, including plugin support and web-browsing access (which is back after being pulled). Now, ChatGPT is rolling out a new data analysis mode more widely, along with other convenience features.

To get to the latest beta, you must be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber. But if you already subscribe, then once you've enabled beta features in settings, you're set to go. The new features may roll out to free users eventually, but that's not guaranteed. OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) initially rolled out the ability to browse Bing for answers and content and had to pull it when it started bypassing paywalls. That feature is back in beta, but it could disappear again.

The latest new feature is data analysis. You can upload files to ChatGPT and ask for summaries, help with code, and more. That's useful because previously, you would have to spell out large portions of data little by little. Along the way, ChatGPT could forget bits you taught it, leading you to start over. Now, you can provide all the data in one go.

There are some limits. I tried to have ChatGPT examine a 20,000-word piece I'd written, and it refused to look beyond the first 1,000 characters. When I prodded for more, ChatGPT refused the request as impractical. But depending on the type of data you need analyzed, that limit may be more than enough.

Also new to subscribers is a multi-modal mode. Previously, if you wanted to use the new DALL-E 3 generator, the Bing browsing feature, or other features, you had to select them from the GPT-4 drop-down manually. That's not strictly necessary anymore. Ask for an image from the initial prompt, and ChatGPT can automatically switch to DALL-E mode.

One exception is the new data analysis tool: the button to upload files doesn't appear until you manually switch. Asking to analyze a file didn't help either; ChatGPT claimed it wasn't possible. But beyond data analysis, ChatGPT does a good job of figuring out which mode to be in from my quick testing.

The features are rolling out now, assuming you're a ChatGPT Plus subscriber.

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