ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, has created seismic shifts in a number of industries, including SEO and web development to name a few. This has led to many professionals scrambling to learn how to use the AI chatbot, but did you know that it’s just the tip of the iceberg? Plenty of ChatGPT alternatives have popped up as well. Before we get into them, we should take a look at the features that’ve made the Large Language Model (LLM) such a mainstay of so many industries:
Text Generation: This is perhaps ChatGPT’s most prominent feature. It enables users to leverage the LLM to generate text that can cover a wide range of writing styles, areas of expertise and even different languages. Many of the added benefits of the LLM chatbot stem from its superior text generation capabilities.
Problem solving: ChatGPT doesn’t just generate random text. Its comprehensive database has given the AI significant knowledge of several areas, and a simple question and answer format can help you uncover newer and better solutions to problems you’re facing.
Automated responses: In a more practical setting, ChatGPT can be used to generate automated responses in an instant. Once again, the wide range of data it utilizes can come in handy here, allowing you to modify and tailor its responses based on the needs of the day.
Developer tools: This is an area that most people fail to recognize. Apart from generating text, ChatGPT can also create some pretty solid code. This can help developers create websites far more efficiently, allow them to trouble shoot issues and even create complex code patterns and landing pages without having to go through all of the work.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Here we have another practical use for ChatGPT. SEO professionals can use ChatGPT to aid them in keyword research, come up with new ideas for content and even make it easier to generate links. You can also run your SEO campaign by ChatGPT to get a better understanding of how successful it’ll be when you implement it.
Now, if ChatGPT has such a wide range of use cases, you might be wondering why you’d need anything else. Well, though the Large Language Model brings a lot of features to the table, it also has its fair share of disadvantages. Here are some of the most important ones:
Fact Checking: For all of its advantages, ChatGPT has one fatal flaw: it can give out false or misleading information at times. This means that you need to fact check everything the chatbot generates, and some writers prefer to just do it themselves to skip the hassle.
Lack of Real Time Data: This is especially pertinent for those that want to use ChatGPT as a customer service chatbot. It’s unable to analyze data in real time, so conversations will already be over by the time the data can be processed. You should be cautious about using it for this purpose, since customer queries might not be addresses as quickly as they need to be.
Ethical Dilemmas: If you have ChatGPT write something for you, can you take credit for it, ethically speaking? It’s an important question to ask, and it’s not the only ethical dilemma ChatGPT brings.
Limited Dataset: When you ask ChatGPT a question, you’re basically going to get information that’s already present online. In fact, ChatGPT 3.5 is limited to information published in 2022, so more recent updates and studies may not be factored in. This means that you can’t rely on it for the most up to date information and statistics.
Clearly, ChatGPT isn’t the end-all be-all of generative AI, so without further ado, here is our curated list that offers some of its best alternatives:
It was only a matter of time before Google created its own answer to ChatGPT, and it did just that with Bard. Using Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications, or Lambda for short, Bard is great alternative to ChatGPT, although it has many of the same fact checking issues as its OpenAI counterpart.
Microsoft is one of OpenAI’s biggest investors, but that didn’t stop the tech juggernaut from launching Sydney, its ChatGPT equivalent on Bing Chat. It uses the latest version of ChatGPT, combing it with Bing’s search engine algorithm, so expect about the same results that you would get with ChatGPT all in all.
Photo: jasper
Here we have an AI chatbot that finally doesn’t come from a massive existing corporation. Jasper offers excellent conversational text generation thanks to Natural Language Understanding, and its dialog management keeps the conversation realistic as well. It’s a great option for creative cues, and you can also use it to generate some top notch marketing copy.
Photo: Howfinity / YT
This is a next-gen AI virtual assistant from Anthropic, and it’s already shown some impressive language processing capabilities. Anthropic places a lot of emphasis on making its AI honest and truthful, so you may be able to avoid some of the fact checking errors that’ve made users so nervous about ChatGPT.
Screenshot: DIW
With HuggingChat, which is based on Meta AI (LLaMA), you get one of the best open-source GTP-style bot. This LLaMA-powered AI chatbot boasts human-like conversation skills, a unique personality, and multilingual capabilities. It excels in creating original content and distinguishes itself from others like ChatGPT through its specialized training and creative focus.
Screenshot: DIW
Remember, ChatGPT’s main weakness is its propensity for factual errors, and that’s exactly where ChatSonic sets itself apart. The company claims that it uses Google’s search engine to level up its chatbot’s capabilities, although you might want to see for yourself since it also uses ChatGPT 3 which is limited to data published before 2022.
Screenshot: DIW
If there’s one thing that could make ChatGPT a whole lot better, it’d be sources and citations. The chatbot is always hesitant to provide any sources, but that’s not an issue you’d face with Perplexity. The conversational AI can be a boon for researchers, bloggers and journalists around the world, and you don’t have to go out looking for sources after getting answers either.
Screenshot: DIW
Instead of just talking to a random, faceless chatbot, Character.ai allows you to create entire personas and answers questions in their voice. You can have the chatbot pretend to be Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or really anyone else you have in mind. That can be a great way to diversify its answers and look at topics from multiple, often differing, viewpoints.
Screenshot: Elicit / Homepage
This platform specifically refers to itself as a research assistant rather than just another chatbot, so you can imagine how useful it can be in that regard. The literature review feature is especially important, since it can provide you with studies and sources to answer any queries you put in.
Screenshot: DIW
The thing that makes YouChat so special is its ability to provide real time data, unlike ChatGPT. Functionally, it offers a user experience that mimics ChatGPT in many ways, but source citing improves factual accuracy and it can also be a wonderful tool for learning new languages.
Read next: Can ChatGPT Help You Master the Intricacies of Content Writing?
Text Generation: This is perhaps ChatGPT’s most prominent feature. It enables users to leverage the LLM to generate text that can cover a wide range of writing styles, areas of expertise and even different languages. Many of the added benefits of the LLM chatbot stem from its superior text generation capabilities.
Problem solving: ChatGPT doesn’t just generate random text. Its comprehensive database has given the AI significant knowledge of several areas, and a simple question and answer format can help you uncover newer and better solutions to problems you’re facing.
Automated responses: In a more practical setting, ChatGPT can be used to generate automated responses in an instant. Once again, the wide range of data it utilizes can come in handy here, allowing you to modify and tailor its responses based on the needs of the day.
Developer tools: This is an area that most people fail to recognize. Apart from generating text, ChatGPT can also create some pretty solid code. This can help developers create websites far more efficiently, allow them to trouble shoot issues and even create complex code patterns and landing pages without having to go through all of the work.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Here we have another practical use for ChatGPT. SEO professionals can use ChatGPT to aid them in keyword research, come up with new ideas for content and even make it easier to generate links. You can also run your SEO campaign by ChatGPT to get a better understanding of how successful it’ll be when you implement it.
Now, if ChatGPT has such a wide range of use cases, you might be wondering why you’d need anything else. Well, though the Large Language Model brings a lot of features to the table, it also has its fair share of disadvantages. Here are some of the most important ones:
Fact Checking: For all of its advantages, ChatGPT has one fatal flaw: it can give out false or misleading information at times. This means that you need to fact check everything the chatbot generates, and some writers prefer to just do it themselves to skip the hassle.
Lack of Real Time Data: This is especially pertinent for those that want to use ChatGPT as a customer service chatbot. It’s unable to analyze data in real time, so conversations will already be over by the time the data can be processed. You should be cautious about using it for this purpose, since customer queries might not be addresses as quickly as they need to be.
Ethical Dilemmas: If you have ChatGPT write something for you, can you take credit for it, ethically speaking? It’s an important question to ask, and it’s not the only ethical dilemma ChatGPT brings.
Limited Dataset: When you ask ChatGPT a question, you’re basically going to get information that’s already present online. In fact, ChatGPT 3.5 is limited to information published in 2022, so more recent updates and studies may not be factored in. This means that you can’t rely on it for the most up to date information and statistics.
Clearly, ChatGPT isn’t the end-all be-all of generative AI, so without further ado, here is our curated list that offers some of its best alternatives:
1. Bard
It was only a matter of time before Google created its own answer to ChatGPT, and it did just that with Bard. Using Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications, or Lambda for short, Bard is great alternative to ChatGPT, although it has many of the same fact checking issues as its OpenAI counterpart.
2. Bing Chat
Microsoft is one of OpenAI’s biggest investors, but that didn’t stop the tech juggernaut from launching Sydney, its ChatGPT equivalent on Bing Chat. It uses the latest version of ChatGPT, combing it with Bing’s search engine algorithm, so expect about the same results that you would get with ChatGPT all in all.
3. Jasper
Here we have an AI chatbot that finally doesn’t come from a massive existing corporation. Jasper offers excellent conversational text generation thanks to Natural Language Understanding, and its dialog management keeps the conversation realistic as well. It’s a great option for creative cues, and you can also use it to generate some top notch marketing copy.
4. Claude
This is a next-gen AI virtual assistant from Anthropic, and it’s already shown some impressive language processing capabilities. Anthropic places a lot of emphasis on making its AI honest and truthful, so you may be able to avoid some of the fact checking errors that’ve made users so nervous about ChatGPT.
5. HuggingChat
With HuggingChat, which is based on Meta AI (LLaMA), you get one of the best open-source GTP-style bot. This LLaMA-powered AI chatbot boasts human-like conversation skills, a unique personality, and multilingual capabilities. It excels in creating original content and distinguishes itself from others like ChatGPT through its specialized training and creative focus.
6. ChatSonic
Remember, ChatGPT’s main weakness is its propensity for factual errors, and that’s exactly where ChatSonic sets itself apart. The company claims that it uses Google’s search engine to level up its chatbot’s capabilities, although you might want to see for yourself since it also uses ChatGPT 3 which is limited to data published before 2022.
7. Perplexity
If there’s one thing that could make ChatGPT a whole lot better, it’d be sources and citations. The chatbot is always hesitant to provide any sources, but that’s not an issue you’d face with Perplexity. The conversational AI can be a boon for researchers, bloggers and journalists around the world, and you don’t have to go out looking for sources after getting answers either.
8. Character.ai
Instead of just talking to a random, faceless chatbot, Character.ai allows you to create entire personas and answers questions in their voice. You can have the chatbot pretend to be Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or really anyone else you have in mind. That can be a great way to diversify its answers and look at topics from multiple, often differing, viewpoints.
9. Elicit
This platform specifically refers to itself as a research assistant rather than just another chatbot, so you can imagine how useful it can be in that regard. The literature review feature is especially important, since it can provide you with studies and sources to answer any queries you put in.
10. YouChat
The thing that makes YouChat so special is its ability to provide real time data, unlike ChatGPT. Functionally, it offers a user experience that mimics ChatGPT in many ways, but source citing improves factual accuracy and it can also be a wonderful tool for learning new languages.
11. OpenAI Playground
OpenAI Playground is a free tool that provides an alternative to ChatGPT for interacting with OpenAI's large language models. It offers a code interface, natural language interface, and access to pre-trained models for generating text, translating languages, writing creative content, and answering questions informatively. OpenAI Playground's open-source nature makes it more transparent than ChatGPT, while its access to OpenAI's latest language models enhances its power. Playground is a versatile tool for learning about AI, prototyping AI applications, and sharing AI research.Conclusion:
ChatGPT has revolutionized several industries with features like advanced text generation, problem-solving, automated responses, coding assistance, and SEO optimization. Despite these benefits, it has limitations, including inaccuracies, lack of real-time data, ethical concerns, and outdated information. As a result, alternatives have emerged, such as Google's Bard, Microsoft's Bing Chat, HuggingChat, ChatSonic, Perplexity, and OpenAI Playground.- Need to convert Distance, Temperature and Weight units quickly and accurately? Try our Unit Converter.
Frequently Asked Questions About ChatGPT and AI Alternatives
Q: What are the best alternatives to ChatGPT?
A: The "best" alternative to ChatGPT varies based on user needs and preferences. There are specialized AI solutions tailored for specific tasks such as coding, writing, or conducting online searches. Some prominent alternatives include OpenAI Codex for developers, Jasper for content creators, and various AI-powered search engines for general queries. It's important to assess each alternative's features to determine which one aligns with your requirements.
Q: Is ChatGPT available for free?
A: Yes, the standard version of ChatGPT is available for free, offering users the ability to interact and explore its capabilities without any cost. However, for those interested in the advanced features of GPT-4 (also known as GPTPlus), a subscription fee of $20 per month is required, which ensures access to the latest model with improved performance and reduced downtime. Instructions to access GPT-4 can be found on the official OpenAI website.
Q: What does ChatGPT’s Advanced Data Analysis feature entail?
A: ChatGPT's Advanced Data Analysis, previously referred to as the Code Interpreter, is a premium feature that allows users to input code or data sets for the AI to analyze. This is particularly useful for developers looking to debug or interpret code. To utilize this feature, one must have an active subscription to ChatGPT Plus.
Q: How does Google’s AI offering compare to ChatGPT?
A: Google has developed several AI models, including BERT, MUM, and LaMDA. Their most recent model, Bard, is Google’s counterpart to ChatGPT, providing an experimental conversational AI experience. Bard offers unique features such as internet connectivity, support for extensions, sourcing capabilities, and multimodal interactions, positioning it as a strong competitor in the AI landscape.
Q: Which is better: Google Bard or ChatGPT?
A: Comparing Google Bard and ChatGPT isn't straightforward, as "better" can be subjective depending on user needs. Bard excels with features like drafting with sources and internet integration (including Google Sheets and Docs), whereas GPT-4 is praised for its quick processing and comprehensive data understanding. Ultimately, the choice between them depends on the specific functionalities and experience you are seeking from an AI chatbot.
Read next: Can ChatGPT Help You Master the Intricacies of Content Writing?
