ChatGPT Plus upgraded with powerful new features

An update to ChatGPT Plus means customers will no longer have to install plugins to take advantage of powerful features, such as the ability to upload and interrogate PDFs.

Screenshots from customers who have received the update, which appears to be rolling out gradually to paying subscribers, show two key new abilities:

• The option to upload PDFs, documents and “data files” and to start asking questions about them
• Automatic access to tools such as live web browsing, Advanced Data Analysis and the generative AI art service DALLE, without having to manually select them from the ChatGPT drop-down menu

The first of those new features, the ability to ask questions about PDFs and other documents, will mean customers no longer need to install plugins and/or sign up with third-party services to get that functionality. It’s also terrible news for all the developers who have built such services using OpenAI’s GPT API.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT Plus, has yet to make any official announcement about the new features, which started appearing for users over the weekend. However, it seems that – as with previous additions to ChatGPT Plus – the company is rolling out the features gradually across its user base.

Users can revert to the old system of selecting features manually if they prefer.

Will sensitive data be protected?

The ability to upload PDFs and other document formats directly to ChatGPT Plus will again alarm businesses about data security. First, it increases the chances of potentially sensitive information being uploaded to AI services. Second, it raises questions about what might happen to that data.

OpenAI’s FAQ makes no secret of the fact that data uploaded to ChatGPT Plus may be used to train future AI models. “As part of our commitment to safe and responsible AI, we may review conversations to improve our systems and to ensure the content complies with our policies and safety requirements,” the Q&A states.

Only when business customers pay for the Enterprise tier of ChatGPT does the company promise that “customer prompts or data are not used for training models”.

ChatGPT Plus currently costs $20 per month, but the company doesn’t specify a price for the Enterprise tier, with interested parties invited to contact OpenAI for a quote.

Read our guide to ChatGPT Enterprise vs ChatGPT Plus here.