ChatGPT-4 was launched by OpenAI in March 2023 and represents a significant evolution in GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) technology.

GPT-4 is larger and more complex than its predecessor, GPT-3.5. Its increased size allows for a more nuanced understanding of language and more sophisticated responses. It's better at tasks that require understanding subtleties and complexities in language, including humor, sarcasm, and cultural nuances.

It can handle more complex instructions and follow them more accurately than GPT-3.5. It's more adept at understanding and executing multi-step instructions or those that require a higher level of reasoning.

ChatGPT-4 can do everything that ChatGPT-3.5 can do, so everything we covered in our guide 'How to use ChatGPT – 7 tips for beginners' still stands. We recommend reading that one first before delving into the more specific version 4 tips below.

One of the most striking differences between version 4 and its predecessor is that you can now upload documents into the question window. ChatGPT-4 can analyze Word documents, spreadsheets, and images. ChatGPT-4 also enables you to use other users' customized GPTs and even allows you to create your own. We'll be looking at that in more detail below.

How to use ChatGPT-4

Before you can try any of the steps, you will need to have access to ChatGPT-4. There are two main ways to get hold of ChatGPT4: directly through OpenAI's interface or via its integration with Bing.

To use ChatGPT-4 on OpenAI, you must sign up for its Plus plan. Unlike ChatGPT-3.5, which is free, Plus costs USD20 a month to use, but it does come with additional features. This includes access to tools like DALL·E, advanced data analysis, and the option to create your own GPTs.

OpenAI doesn't offer a free trial, but given that ChatGPT Pro was oversubscribed last year, it doesn't really need to.

As mentioned earlier,  you can also access ChatGPT-4 through Bing. Microsoft integrated ChatGPT-4 into its search engine, providing a combination of conversational AI and search engine capabilities. The biggest pro of using ChatGPT-4 in Bing is that it provides real-time information.

However, it has drawbacks. You can only ask questions of up to 2000 characters long, so you can't get it to analyze or critique essays or articles like you can with the OpenAI version. And although it will allow you to upload an image, you can't upload other kinds of documents like Word documents and spreadsheets on Bing.

The examples below were all produced by subscribing to ChatGPT Pro and using ChatGPT-4 on the OpenAI website.

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman has said in interviews that the company is currently working on the next version of ChatGPT, but there's no release date for ChatGPT-5 as yet.

Certainly, ChatGPT-4 has shown a significant improvement on ChatGPT-3.5, so it will be interesting to see what the next iteration of this technology will look like.

ChatGPT-4's release showed efforts to reduce biases in GPT-4 and make its responses safer. It still isn't perfect, but it generally shows improvements in producing responses that are less likely to be harmful or biased. And new features like image analysis and customized GPTs opened up new opportunities for interacting with AI large language models.

There are some downsides with ChatGPT-4 compared to the 3.5 version, however. For one, it is much slower in generating responses.

This is because it is more complex, so more computational power and time are needed to process and generate these responses. More data is processed with each query. This increased data processing can lead to longer response times.

There are also limits on usage volumes and resource allocation. A usage cap limits the number of queries you can ask, although it is not clear how many queries you can have or when you are nearing your limit. When this happens, you will see a message telling you that you've reached your current usage cap. The message lets you know when you can next try again, so you can either wait until then or switch to using ChatGPT-3.5, which doesn't have usage caps. Many users report finding the caps very frustrating, especially given that this is a subscription model that they are paying for.

Despite its limitations, ChatGPT-4 is very impressive in what it can do and is a lot of fun to use. This article only covers an overview of what CHatGPT-4 is capable of. To really get to know its capabilities, you should spend time playing with it and exploring different scenarios.