OpenAI releases iOS ChatGPT

Mobile ChatGPT. After months of questionable apps on the App Store, OpenAI launched an official iOS app for their popular AI chatbot today. The company says the new ChatGPT app will be free, ad-free, and allow voice input, but only for U.S. customers at launch.

Like its desktop counterpart, the ChatGPT app lets users connect with an AI chatbot to ask questions, get advice, discover inspiration, learn, investigate, and more without a web search. Given Siri’s difficulties and Apple’s lack of AI progress, the latest update may encourage more customers to utilize ChatGPT as their main mobile aid. As Safari’s default search engine on Apple’s iPhone, Google may be affected by the launch.

ChatGPT’s mobile app will sync your search history from its web interface and make it available to you. Whisper, OpenAI’s open-source speech recognition algorithm, allows voice input in the app.

OpenAI says ChatGPT Plus subscribers will get early access to new features, faster response times, and GPT-4’s capabilities through the new app. In February, the $20 monthly subscription offered updated functionality, including ChatGPT access during busy times.

The company said the new app will launch in the U.S. today and in other countries in the “coming weeks.” Android is also “coming soon.”

Semafor reported in February that OpenAI was developing a smartphone client, which the company denied.

The ChatGPT app launches as major tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook are experimenting with AI and integrating AI capabilities into their search engines, the latter through an expensive partnership with OpenAI. But accessing ChatGPT directly on mobile without a search engine or browser could change how people seek and connect with information on their phones.

OpenAI’s ad-free mobile app may stand apart from search apps’ AI integrations. In its blog post, OpenAI says users can get immediate answers “without sifting through ads or multiple results.” Bing already inserts adverts into its AI-powered Bing Chat, snubbing search engines.

ChatGPT’s App Store description highlights its ad-free nature, along with the ability to sync your history and access OpenAI’s latest models.

The app’s release comes days after Google dropped the waitlist for its AI chatbot, Bard, which it revealed at this month’s Google I/O developer conference was now available in English.

iPhone users want ChatGPT and AI. As of late March, data.ai’s top 10 mobile AI apps had produced over $14 million in consumer spending this year, and users’ average daily expenditure was up 11% over February.