OpenAI recently introduced ChatGPT plugins that allow the chatbot to communicate with third-party APIs, expanding its range of capabilities. Before the GPT-4 upgrade, chatbots were unable to retrieve real-time data or even be aware of the existence of 2022. With ChatGPT plugins, developers can add functionality to their existing code stack, such as retrieving real-time information, performing tasks on behalf of the user, and pulling specific knowledge-base information from a company’s internal documents or personal cloud. However, these added capabilities increase the chances of the model returning problematic responses, which OpenAI has thoroughly tested and plans to mitigate through safety-by-design mitigations. The company granted early access to a handful of partner companies, including Expedia, Instacart, KAYAK, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Wolfram, and Zapier, with limited availability, and interested parties can add their names to the waitlist to try it out.
OpenAI introduces ChatGPT plugins for real-time data and expanded capabilities
OpenAI recently unveiled plugins for ChatGPT, enabling the chatbot to communicate with third-party APIs. The move followed the release of the new GPT-4 engine and Whisper API in March, allowing developers to customize ChatGPT’s responses to specific circumstances, making it more versatile.
Before the GPT-4 upgrade, chatbots were limited to discussing past games and scores, especially in 2021, when GPT-3’s training data was collected. They were unable to retrieve real-time data or be aware of the existence of the year 2022. However, with ChatGPT plugins, developers can add new features to the chatbot’s existing code stack, such as retrieving real-time information like sports scores, stock prices, and breaking news. Additionally, it can pull specific knowledge-base information from a company’s internal documents or personal cloud and perform tasks on behalf of the user, such as booking flights or ordering take-out.
“The AI model acts as an intelligent API caller. Given an API spec and a natural-language description of when to use the API, the model proactively calls the API to perform actions,” wrote the OpenAI team. For example, if a user inquires, “Where should I stay in Paris for a couple of nights?” the model may choose to call a hotel reservation plugin API, receive the API response, and generate a user-facing answer combining the API data and its natural language capabilities.
Plugins serve as a bridge to fill the knowledge gap between what the model was trained on and what has transpired since. This should reduce the AI’s tendency to fabricate facts when answering complex questions. “These references not only enhance the model’s utility but also enable users to assess the trustworthiness of the model’s output and double-check its accuracy, potentially mitigating risks related to over-reliance,” the team wrote.
However, the plugin’s added capabilities and information significantly increase the likelihood of the model returning problematic responses. To avoid the $100 billion hit that Google sustained over Bard, OpenAI has thoroughly tested these plugins. “We’ve conducted red-teaming exercises, both internally and with external collaborators, that have identified several potential concerning scenarios,” the team wrote. They plan to use these discoveries to “inform safety-by-design mitigations” to improve transparency and disable the plugin from participating in risky behaviors.
OpenAI Offers Limited Availability of ChatGPT Plugins to Partner Companies
OpenAI has given a select group of partner companies, including Expedia, Instacart, KAYAK, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Wolfram, and Zapier, early access to the ChatGPT plugins while still in early alpha development with limited availability. Interested parties can add their names to the waitlist to try it out.
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