OpenAI Introduces Plugins for ChatGPT: A New Era in Human-AI Interaction
OpenAI has announced initial support for plugins in ChatGPT, a move that expands the potential use cases of the popular AI language model. This gradual rollout allows OpenAI to study real-world usage, safety, and alignment challenges, adhering to their iterative deployment philosophy.
Enhancing ChatGPT with Custom Plugins
Plugins are designed to improve ChatGPT’s capabilities by providing access to up-to-date information, enabling computations, and integrating third-party services. Users have long requested plugin support, and developers have already been experimenting with similar ideas.
OpenAI aims to build a community that will shape the future of human-AI interaction by gradually rolling out plugin access to users, developers, and API clients.
First Wave of Plugins by Industry Leaders
Plugin developers invited off the waitlist can use OpenAI’s documentation to create plugins for ChatGPT. The initial set of plugins comes from a diverse group of companies, including Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, KAYAK, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram, and Zapier.
These plugins offer a wide array of functionalities, such as:
- Expedia: Plan trips with recommendations on transport, accommodation, and activities.
- FiscalNote: Access real-time legal, political, and regulatory data sets.
- Instacart: Order groceries from local stores.
- KAYAK: Search for flights, accommodations, and car rentals within your budget.
- Klarna Shopping: Compare prices from thousands of online shops.
- Milo Family AI: Help parents transform daily chaos into magic.
- OpenTable: Get restaurant recommendations and make reservations.
- Shop: Search for products from the world’s top brands.
- Speak: Learn new languages with an AI-powered tutor.
- Wolfram: Access computation, math, curated knowledge, and real-time data.
- Zapier: Interact with over 5,000+ apps like Google Sheets, Trello, Gmail, and more.
In addition, OpenAI will host a web browser and code interpreter plugin and has open-sourced a knowledge base retrieval plugin for developers to self-host and augment ChatGPT.
Gradual Rollout to Developers and Users
Starting today, OpenAI will extend plugin alpha access to users and developers from its waitlist. While initially prioritizing a limited number of developers and ChatGPT Plus users, the company plans to expand access over time.
This marks a significant step in the development of AI language models and promises a future of richer human-AI interactions.
Safeguards and Safety Concerns
While plugins offer numerous benefits, they also introduce new risks and safety challenges. OpenAI has conducted red-teaming exercises to identify potential risks, such as prompt injection, spam emails, and misuse of information.
The findings are being used to develop safety-by-design mitigations, improve transparency, and gradually deploy access to plugins. OpenAI encourages researchers to participate in their Researcher Access Program to study safety risks and mitigations in this area.
Browsing Plugin: Access to Up-to-Date Information
The browsing plugin allows ChatGPT users to access fresh information from the internet, expanding the range of content the model can discuss. With a focus on safety and good web citizenship, the plugin is designed to respect content creators and adhere to websites’ robots.txt files.
Code Interpreter Plugin: Python Integration
The code interpreter plugin provides ChatGPT with a working Python interpreter in a sandboxed environment. Users can benefit from AI-generated code for solving mathematical problems, data analysis, visualization, and file conversion.
Retrieval Plugin: Access to Personal Information Sources
The retrieval plugin enables ChatGPT to access personal or organizational information sources with permission. As an open-source and self-hosted solution, developers can deploy their own version of the plugin and register it with ChatGPT.
Third-Party Plugins: Expanding ChatGPT’s Capabilities
OpenAI is also rolling out support for third-party plugins, allowing developers to build custom plugins for ChatGPT. Developers can create an API with specific endpoints, an OpenAPI specification, and a manifest file to integrate their plugins.
The Future of ChatGPT Plugins
OpenAI aims to refine and expand the capabilities of ChatGPT plugins, learning from deployment and user feedback to build a system that is both useful and safe. With the collaboration of developers, researchers, and users, the future of ChatGPT plugins looks promising.
