ChatGPT is a text-based chatbot that has been upgraded significantly since its launch last year. A big draw is its ability to utilize plugins, which can integrate third-party services into the chatbot with just a click. OpenAI and Microsoft have even established an open plugin standard that allows for more to be added soon.
With 125 available plugins, it can be hard to know where to begin. I decided to test out three that I thought gave users the best experience. First up was a Chess plugin that lets you play a game against a range of opponents from Beginner to Grandmaster. The board displays what’s happening but since it’s a chatbot, you need to move pieces with typed commands.
I also tested the Expedia and KAYAK plugins, which aim to help plan trips. Expedia didn’t work as well as I hoped, presenting questions in the wrong order. KAYAK, however, did fantastic. It asked about a range of details from origin to rental cars, then presented a list of requirements to book.
The best of the bunch, however, was the Instacart plugin. Through a simple prompt, the plugin generated a meal plan and grocery list that could then be added to an Instacart cart with one click. OpenTable and Tasty had technical problems, but Instacart was incredibly successful.
Overall, plugins can be a great addition to any chatbot. If you’re breathing life into ChatGPT and want to save time, these features are worth a look. If you don’t want to spend the money on ChatGPT Plus to get access to the plugins, you can also find the same ones on Microsoft’s Bing Chat, which is totally free.
OpenAI is at the heart of ChatGPT’s functionality, and it has tremendous potential for the future. It can process text, but also understand and work with visuals, so the possibilities are vast. Instacart’s plugin is just the first taste of what’s to come, and with the development of the open plugin standard, more useful services will continue to be added.
Notably, the person referenced in this article is Alex Wawro, who tested the Expedia ChatGPT plugin and found it lacking. He contributed great insight to the article and highlighted the plugin’s performance issues. ChatGPT Plus is the subscription option offered by ChatGPT that includes the plugins. It costs $20 a month and is necessary to use the plugins. This article also mentioned Open AI and Microsoft, two leading companies in AI technology who established the open plugin standard for chatbot platforms. This has helped to make the ChatGPT plugins more accessible on other platforms such as Bing Chat.
