OpenAI has released an official iOS app for ChatGPT, their popular AI chatbot. The app is now available for iPhone users, allowing them to access ChatGPT on the go. It is a free app without any ads, offering voice input functionality. Initially, the app is limited to users in the United States. With this app, users can ask questions, seek advice, find inspiration, learn, and conduct research without relying on traditional web searches. Given the limitations of Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, and their slow progress in AI, the ChatGPT app could become a preferred choice for users as their mobile assistant. This release could also impact Google, as ChatGPT might attract users away from using Google search, which is the default search engine on Safari for iPhones.
When using the ChatGPT mobile app, your search history from the web interface will be synced across devices for convenience. The app includes Whisper, OpenAI’s speech recognition system, allowing users to input text through voice commands. ChatGPT Plus subscribers can access the advanced features of GPT-4 within the app. Subscribers also receive early access to new features and enjoy faster response times. The ChatGPT Plus subscription costs $20 per month and provides access to ChatGPT even during high-demand periods.
The ChatGPT app will be initially launched in the United States and will expand to other countries soon. An Android version of the app is also expected to be released in the future. Rumors about OpenAI working on a mobile app surfaced in February, but the company didn’t comment on it at that time. The launch of the ChatGPT app coincides with other major tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook exploring AI technologies. Google and Microsoft have been integrating AI capabilities into their search engines, including a partnership with OpenAI. Accessing ChatGPT directly on mobile, without relying on a search engine or browser, could change how people use their phones for searching and accessing information.
One advantage of OpenAI’s mobile app is that it is ad-free, unlike search apps with integrated AI. OpenAI highlights in its blog post that users can get instant answers without dealing with ads or multiple search results. This subtle statement indirectly criticizes Bing, OpenAI’s partner, for incorporating ads into its AI-powered Bing Chat. The App Store description of ChatGPT also emphasizes its ad-free nature, along with features like history syncing and access to the latest OpenAI models. Interestingly, Google recently introduced its own AI chatbot called Bard, which became available in English shortly before the launch of ChatGPT’s mobile app.
Research conducted by data.ai, an app store intelligence provider, shows that there is consumer demand for AI apps like ChatGPT on the iPhone. The top 10 mobile AI apps have already generated more than $14 million in consumer spending in 2023, as of late March. Consumer spending on AI apps has increased by 11% on average compared to February.
